Democratic Disruption or Continuity? Analysis of the Decidim Platform in Catalan Municipalities

Free, open-source participatory platforms like Decidim or Consul were designed by the 15M’ citizen activists in Spain. Initially implemented Barcelona and Madrid, these are spread many countries. Castells has not examined institutionalization of 15M’s offspring, thus we aim to contribute studying rollout platform Catalan municipalities. We examine its disruptive potential along three democratic dimensions: transparency, participation deliberation. Our study combines in-depth interviews an online questionnaire administered public officials charge analyses levels on platform. The research shows elements managerial continuity: most valued goals organisation information collection proposals, rather than deliberation transfer sovereignty towards citizens. However, forces administrations consider individual citizens’ inputs, increases proposals initiatives, brings new participant publics. Furthermore, innovation is being pushed ahead a networkof technological experts that continuously improve function as counter-power (Castells, 2015, 2016).