Grassroots democracy is a tendency to design political processes in which both the decision-making authority and the practice move to the lower geographic or social level of the organization.
Grassroots organizations can have a variety of structures; depending on the type of organization and what members want. These can be unstructured and non-hierarchical organizations that are run by all members, or by any member who wants to do something.
To cite a specific hypothetical example, a national grassroots organization would place the greatest possible decision-making power in the hands of local chapters or common members instead of the central office. The principle is that for democratic power to be better exercised, it must be invested in a local community and common members and instead of isolated, atomized individuals at the top of the organization. Grassroots organizations can inhabit participatory systems. Grassroots systems differ from representative systems that allow local communities or national members to elect decision makers.
The difference between the three systems is reduced to where they rest on two different axes: rooting in a community (base against national or international); and the ability of all individuals to participate in the shared (participatory vs. representative) decision-making process.
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