Professor María Ballester has taught the course “Democracy and Citizen Participation” at the Open University for the Elderly, within the framework of the “UOM Specialization Diploma in Science, Technology and Society in the 21st Century”.
This course aims at reflecting on the legal-constitutional framework that rules direct democracy (referendums, popular consultations, popular legislative initiatives); it addresses other citizens’ participation mechanisms (forums, public hearings, participatory budgets), which have great potential, mainly in the field of local administration; and aims at reflecting on how citizen participation facilitates democratic quality and transparency in decision making.
Taking advantage of this course, students visited the Insular Council of Mallorca, invited by the Insular Director of Participation and Youth, and were able to know firsthand what the mechanisms that have been articulated in the Insular Administration to bring citizens closer to the processes of making of decisions are.
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