Have you ever wondered why politicians reach for democratic innovations? How do they evaluate deliberative practices involving ordinary citizens and what political value do they ascribe to them? Do they want to put citizens' perspectives at the centre of decision-making processes in the face of a growing crisis of representative democracy, or are their motivations more nuanced and instrumental? This book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the future of democracy, using unique data from in-depth interviews with local politicians to explore decision-makers' attitudes towards deliberative innovation and propose some truly effective ways to design it in relation to traditional representative institutions.