Are representative democracy and participative democracy mutually exclusive?

Certainly not! Representative democracy is a necessity. It is simply impossible to imagine a system in which everybody would decide everything. Therefore, the decision making power invested in each individual must be delegated to a “representative”. The correlation is that the person who gives the mandate must control how his/her representative acts on his/her behalf. The mere act of controlling would already imply “participation”. Most people shy away from involving themselves already at this stage. Indeed, controlling implies understanding, formulating and discussing ideas, creating and maintaining a relationship between oneself and the person (Councilor, MP, etc.) to whom one gives a mandate. Participative democracy appears therefore as an ideal, which everybody talks about but very few are prepared to take seriously.