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The dual crisis of representative democracy and the authoritarian assault on the liberal dimension have challenged the global democratic order. While these parallel processes have been extensively studied, there remains a gap in understanding their implications for the participatory dimension of democracy. This is especially the case for the region of Southeast Europe (SEE), which has been at the forefront of the crisis for more than a decade. What are the key features of the contemporary research agenda on political participation in SEE? What insights does it provide into the evolving trends and patterns of regional participatory practices? This chapter delves into these questions through a scoping review of 149 academic articles addressing political participation in SEE from 2010 to 2022. The observed period is marked by a gradual uptrend in the number of articles, primarily driven by a scholarly interest in unconventional and innovative modes of participation and an emphasis on youth engagement. The results further delineate the characteristics of this academic output in terms of the production of knowledge, geographical emphasis, methodological approaches, target populations and the antecedents and outcomes associated with different forms of political participation. The chapter concludes by identifying literature gaps and suggesting avenues for future research on political participation in SEE.

This chapter is an opening to the edited volume that critically examines the intersection of social movements, participatory governance and democratic innovations in Southeast Europe. We introduce the chapters that explore the historical experiences and the contemporary evolving landscape of democracy in the region, discussing the challenges of representative democracy, rising autocratization and the potential for democratic innovations in creating more inclusive societies. The contributors to this volume assess the connections between participatory models with civic engagement and institutional practices, shedding light on the dynamic relationship between bottom-up activism and top-down governance.

This volume strengthens the dialogue between conceptual perspectives, approaches and fields on deliberative and participatory forms of democratic innovation and offers novel insights, focusing on the Southeast European space. Traditional forms of participation seem insufficient in satisfying the growing complexity of the democratic processes, especially in the context of autocratizing societies. It is crucial to examine the possibilities of democratic innovation in political research and practice, trying to establish a connection between the possibilities and limits of representative democracy and social movements as possible carriers of the process of democratic innovation. This book offers novel insights into practices of civil society and social movements and their pathways carved to initiate a deep change in political thinking and practice and compelling insights for scholars and students of Southeast Europe, social movements and democracy.