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Please join us on MS Teams on Wed., Nov. 26, when Prof. Deiric O'Broin of Dublin City University will deliver a talk, "Deepening Ireland’s Democracy – Learning from the Community Sector’s Approach to Participation, Representation and Deliberation." Contact Dr Brian Milstein at the Department of Politics & Public Administration for link details. Abstract: This talk examines the experience of the Irish community sector and how it can contribute to a feasible model of participatory democracy in contemporary Ireland. In particular, it argues that that the community sector can help us to develop an understanding of the processes of accountability and representation that are essential to participatory democracy, and of the mechanisms participatory democrats need for establishing a more accountable and dialogical relationship between representatives and their constituents. The main aims are to analyse the relationships among the democratic principles of participation, representation and accountability, describe the way they have been applied in Ireland’s community sector, and draw out the implications of this experience for democratic theory and practice. In relation to the rationale, I argue there is a well-established literature on the case for participatory democracy, but very little discussion of the role of representatives within such democracies or the processes by which they can develop a more accountable relationship with participatory publics. Participatory democracy has too often been identified with direct democracy rather than with forms of representative democracy in which representatives have a stronger and more dialogical relationship with their constituents. In addition, there is little recent research that has been informed by the experience of community representatives in participatory settings.