Changing practices, not just rules: Rethinking the institutionalisation of deliberative engagement

When Victoria introduced legislation requiring all 79 councils to adopt deliberative engagement, 92% continued practices the legislation had just removed. This paradox reveals a fundamental challenge in embedding democratic innovations within existing systems of government: legislation signals commitment but cannot disrupt entrenched institutional practices. Drawing on interviews, observations, and surveys across all Victorian local governments during initial implementation of the Local Government Act 2020 (Vic) , this paper demonstrates how path dependency and mimetic behaviours enable established participation mechanisms to persist, dilute, or undermine mandated innovations. The analysis shows that public exhibition, a consultation process removed from statutory requirements, was narratively recast as necessary for legitimacy while simultaneously privileging existing stakeholders and eroding the legitimacy of deliberative engagement practices. The paper makes both analytical and practical contributions by identifying drivers and constraints that government actors navigate when implementing democratic innovations. These findings reveal that institutionalising democratic innovations requires more than legislative mandates: it demands active reshaping of organisational cultures, sector‐wide narratives, and the authorising environments that determine what counts as legitimate participation. Without confronting these deeper institutional logics, mandated reforms will continue to be absorbed into familiar routines, with their transformative potential neutralised before it can take hold.

Points for practitioners

Legislative ambiguity enables path dependency. Without clear definitions, organisations default to familiar practices. Deliberative principles need to be articulated to prevent established practices being rebranded as deliberative.