The book covers direct democracy (referendums in particular), deliberative democracy practices and e-participation – forms which are salient in practice because they match the political realities of our time. Expert contributors show how the recent actions of ordinary citizens in several Central and Eastern European countries have challenged the contemporary political order, and grassroots movements and diverse forms of mobilization have challenged the notion of weak civil societies in the East. The empirical evidence presented attempts to deepen citizen involvement in political contexts sometimes quite different from the democratic political systems in the Western world. Using lessons from a still largely underexplored part of Europe, the book both complements and revises theoretical approaches, or complements empirical results in existing studies on democratic innovations.

Democratic innovations have recently gained momentum throughout the world. An increasing number of such practices takes place and coincides with a visible grow in the number of analyses focusing on the forms, functioning and effects of democratic innovations. In spite of these developments, a great deal of research on democratic innovations have largely neglected Central and Eastern Europe. This special issue of Contemporary Politics adds to the existing literature on democratic innovations by focusing on such attempts to deepen citizen participation in the political decision-making process in Central and Eastern Europe. Its attempt to expand the research agenda relies on new empirical evidence relative to three major forms of democratic innovations (direct democracy, deliberative democracy and citizens’ involvement with the aid of ICTs).