Deliberative and Participatory Democracy in the UK

Abstract

Research Highlights and Abstract This article: Provides an overview of the development of deliberative and participatory democracy in the UK. Critically analyses the success of consecutive UK national governments in fostering deliberative and participatory processes. Surveys the development of deliberative and participatory processes in the UK at sub‐national and local level. Provides a starting point for comparative politics on deliberative and participatory democracy between the UK and other polities. This article responds to Michael Saward's call for a more context‐specific approach to the study of democracy by exploring developments in, obstacles to, and prospects for, a more deliberative and participatory model of democracy in the UK. A review is undertaken first of the New Labour and coalition governments' attempts at constitutional reform, in order to assess the implications these efforts have had, and continue to have, for the institutionalisation of such a model of democracy. Despite proclamations of lofty ambition successive UK governments have wrapped themselves in the straightjacketing logic of the Westminster model of parliamentary government. As a consequence their actual proposals lack ambition and are often incoherent. The story told in this respect is therefore one of largely unrealised rhetoric. The ‘largely’ qualifier is included, however, in recognition of the space created by Labour's constitutional reforms for participation at the peripheries of governance. The second section of the article focuses on these spaces by, first, commenting briefly on whether the participatory aspirations of the architects of Scottish devolution have been realised before, second, examining the use of specific deliberative mechanisms—such as citizens' juries, deliberative polls and participatory budgeting—at varying locations within the political system and in public agencies and services. Evidence of democratic innovation is presented; however, any optimism on this front must be tempered, as the power‐sharing potential of such mechanisms, and their capacity to move us towards a more comprehensive and joined‐up deliberative system in the UK, is hampered by the lack of a facilitating institutional landscape. Finally, an overview is provided of the three remaining articles that make up this special section on deliberative and participatory democracy in the UK.

The Impact of Open Data in the Uk: Complex, Unpredictable, and Political

“…It is also frequently at the forefront of openness and participation experiments (Wilson and Game 2011; John 2014). The spending information also potentially fits with the small-scale approach at local level (Chadwick 2012;Davidson and Elstub 2014). Yet local government has always had to balance its dual tasks of democracy and service provision, with the former often subservient to the latter (Hepburn 2014;John 2014).…”

“…A second objective of Open Data is to increase participation. Ease of access to information can potentially drive high‐threshold participation, such as online deliberation, and less interactive activities, such as signing e‐petitions or searching data portals (Chadwick , p. 19; Davidson and Elstub ). Recent studies indicate that ICTs have a small but significant effect on political behaviour (Boulianne ; Mossberger and Tolbert , p. 218; Nam ).…”

Coastal Lagoons in Europe: Integrated Water Resource Strategies

“…The second form of stakeholder engagement used during the LAGOONS project was in the form of CJs, a method of engagement and deliberation which is based on the format used for criminal courts in the UK or US (Blamey et al 2000;Kenyon, 2005;Davidson & Elstub, 2014). A CJ usually last two days and consists of between 12 to 24 randomly chosen citizens, who listen to the evidence presented by a range of 'witnesses' who are all experts in their particular field.…”

Is Britain Facing a Crisis of Democracy?

“…True, a recent assessment on the development of these new mechanisms refers to a 'largely unrealised rhetoric due to the lack of a coherent and comprehensive elite strategy and the adherence of successive UK government to a constraining Westminster model of parliamentary government'. 18 And yet, while the comparative literature is still divided about their effectiveness, especially as one moves upwards from the local all the way up to the European level, 19 citizen-directed initiatives are nonetheless developing. Moreover, the same study quoted above, while acknowledging that both New Labour and Cameron's first government were reluctant to expand the scope for public deliberation, underlines that 'Elites are not solely to blame, however; citizens themselves have not been demanding enough-at least not to an extent that threatens to render far-reaching institutional change a necessity in the eyes of political elites'.…”