The layered quality of democratic innovation and reform

Abstract This chapter demarcates the central topic of this book: wilful attempts to improve democracy through interventions framed as democratic innovations, or in more historical terms democratic reforms. Using the metaphor of the reform cake, Chapter 1 characterizes democratic innovation as the currently most visible top layer of the reform cake, connecting to and resting on underlying layers of reform, prepared and developed earlier, which need to be appreciated to understand democratic reform in general, and more recent democratic-innovations discourse in particular. In reflecting on the unfolding quest for democratic repair, and on theoretical concepts that are helpful in capturing contemporary initiatives and developments, Chapter 1 refers back to the landmark study ‘Democracy Transformed?’ compiled by Cain, Dalton, and Scarrow—a forceful reminder of the historically defined, layered quality of democratic reform and innovation.