Participatory Democracy:A New Paradigm of Democracy

Liberal democracy occupies the dominant position in the twentieth century,but this kind of democratic theory did not promote the aim of free and equal development of all people.In contrast,liberal democracy led to insurmountable crisis.The rise of participatory democracy in 1960s revokes the participatory idea in the political life,reconstructs the democratic theory and revives the nature of democracy.As a new kind of paradigm,participatory democracy changes the dominant position of liberal democracy,emphasizes democracy not only as a kind of governance,but also as a kind of active life,and so surpasses the idea of liberal democracy.However,the fact that participatory democracy can be achieved in small scale,implies participatory democracy only as a kind of micro and grass-roots democracy.