Deliberative Democracy: An Analysis of Citizens' Perspective in Buyukkonuk - North Cyprus

Abstract

It is no secret that deliberative democracy has had a positive effect on social sustainability in many regions of the world; this has led to strident calls for it to replace elite democratic practices. This paper is based on research carried out in Buyukkonuk Village, an eco-tourism village and in the Walled City of Famagusta, North Cyprus, investigating people's views and perceptions concerning community participation in the decision making process. The major aim is to find out the opinion of the local populace on the merits or otherwise of deliberative democracy and its impact on the improvement in their quality of life. (c) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies(cE-Bs), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia