Editor's introduction

The papers in this e-book emerged from ‘Beyond the ballot: diverse forms of citizen engagement between democratic elections,’ a symposium of the participatory and deliberative democracy specialist group of the Political Studies Association of Ireland. Over the past 18 months or so we have had the pleasure of working together on questions of participation and democracy. This work resulted in three panels at the annual conference of the Political Studies Association of Ireland in October 2011. The range of research on democratic participation demonstrates a resurgence of interest in the study of civil society and an appetite for democratic renewal in Ireland’s current process of financial, political and social change. The work presented here is mindful of challenges, but also seeks to look beyond current preoccupations, critically evaluating alternative modes of development for politics, democracy and civic engagement in Ireland. The ‘Beyond the Ballot’ symposium, held in Dublin in March 2012, is part of this broader appetite for change. We hope it was just the first of many public, academic and civic events which question, criticise, investigate and at times celebrate the status of democracy. This book, which publishes short versions of the papers presented on the day, is kindly supported by a ‘New Ideas’ grant from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences and by the PSAI.