Challenging Citizens: Democratic Innovations at the Local Level

Pavel Šaradín is Associate professor in the Department of Politics and European Studies at Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic.Hana Hurtíková is Researcher in the Department of Political Science and European Studies, at the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic.Michal Soukop is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Politics and European Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic.Markéta Zapletalová is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and European Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Democratic Innovations.- 3. Reforms and Political Participation.- 4. Democratic innovations in three countries- 5. Program Local Agenda 21 and Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic association: Testing the causality between HCCZ membership and implementation of selected democratic innovation (GIS).- 6. Political and economic characteristics of municipalities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: Role of municipal dynamics and support resources in implementation of democratic innovations.- 7. Innovative and Interactive Political Communication at the Local Level? Experience from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.- 8. Participatory budgeting in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.- 9. Participatory Budgets in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia: Experience from Three Towns. 10. Conclusion.