Key values for democratic-governance innovation

Abstract This chapter marks the beginning of Part II, which takes the argumentation from understanding to advancing innovation. In specifying which values or ‘goods’ are to serve as guiding lights for improving democratic governance, Chapter 6 draws on and integrates two relevant, yet separated, strands of literature: the democratic-innovations literature and the governance-innovations literature. The result is an integrative framework of key values—inclusiveness, efficaciousness, appropriateness, resilience, and counterbalance—related normative dimensions and key questions that together can serve as a sensitizing framework for evaluation and design thinking in democratic governance and its innovation. For realistically applying the values framework, acknowledging the fundamental value diversity, tensions, and trade-offs between key values, the chapter explores a pragmatic road ahead, stressing the importance of open, prudent, context-sensitive, situated conversations.