1 The Future of Participatory Democracy From Digital Athens to the „Do-It-Yourself State‟ Paper for EGPA 2011, Bucharest (September 7 – 9, 2011) Permanent Studygroup on E-government Albert Meijer Utrecht School of Governance Utrecht University Bijlhouwerstraat 6 3511 ZC Utrecht The Netherlands Contact: a.j.meijer@uu.nl Draft: Do not cite this paper without permission from the author! Note: This paper is a draft version of an essay on the future of democracy. This version is still in a preliminary phase. Comments on this version are needed and most welcome. Version: August 18, 2011 Abstract This paper starts with the observation that liberal and discursive perspectives on democracy have been dominant in our analyses of the future of democracy. The author argues that there is a need for a better understanding of democracy as a participatory practice. This paper develops a rather provocative perspective on the future of participatory democracy and argues that new technologies increasingly enable citizens to organize their own forms of public value production in a „do-it-yourself- state‟.