What is Participatory Democracy? One of the Basic Documents published by the PDCI in our pages establishes (in Spanish) that: «Participatory democracy implies the active role of citizens in the functioning of democracy, through mechanisms established in a free civil society that allow their manifestation and effective participation in decision making. It is a democracy in which citizens are protagonists.» And it adds later on that: «Participatory democracy implies fostering the ways and means to convert citizens and their groups into direct political agents, even if marginal, but together with the political action of political parties»; therefore, it does NOT replace representative democracy nor antaghonizes it, but rather strengthens it. It is developed using certain mechanisms of direct democracy, as we may learn in the case of the State of Maine, in the USA.
Direct democracy 
Ellsworth, Mar. 18.– Most municipalities in Maine operate under a town meeting form of government. For many New England towns, it has been that way since colonial times.
The town meeting is sometimes referred to as the purest form of democracy because citizens — not elected officials — make the important decisions for the operations of the town. In this direct form of government, elected officials carry out the will of the voters who are responsible for the adoption of laws and the raising of funds each year.
- Hits: 3210
Aunque los convenios internacionales preservan ciertas zonas del espectro electromagnético para uso exclusivamente astronómico, una de ellas se encuentra asediada entre los 1,400 MHz y los 1,427 MHz, donde se halla la línea de 21 cm del hidrógeno neutro, que permite estudiar la formación estelar y la distribición de la materia en las galaxias. Está colocada entre dos bandas reservadas para los teléfonos móviles, cuyas necesidades son cada vez mayores a medida que se incluyen más y más funciones en su servicio.
David Remnick.
