From the participatory turn of administrations to the bureaucratisation of participatory democracy: study based on the French case

Gourgues, Guillaume; Mazeaud, Alice; Nonjon, Magali

doi:10.1177/00208523211003122

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 35 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…(2020) summarize, dissatisfaction with current representative democracy increases citizens' desire for more participation opportunities, regardless of what those are. It is not equally clear how policymakers interpret the push for more citizen participation, which they have likely experienced through public discourse, empowerment initiatives and the consolidation of populist parties (see e.g., Fernández‐Martínez et al., 2020 and Gourgues et al., 2021 for discussion). While the participatory ethos aligns with the hopes of many citizen groups, unifying “strange bedfellows” like radical democrats and populists, the situation probably seems more complex in general from the policymakers' viewpoint and their reactions are likely to vary across different elite groups.…”

Section: Attitudes Towards Citizen Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decision‐makers, advisers or educable subjects? Policymakers' perceptions of citizen participation in a Nordic democracy

2023

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The perceived disconnect between policymaking elites and citizens has intensified demands for citizen engagement in democracies, but we know little about policymakers' attitudes towards increased citizen involvement. This study presents an in‐depth, mixed‐methods analysis of participatory views of politicians, public officials, and interest group representatives in Finland. We first utilize a unique survey battery presented to representative samples of policymakers (n = 675) and ordinary citizens (n = 1701). We then perform a qualitative content analysis for 24 in‐depth interviews of high‐ranking policymakers to explore reasons for the observed attitudes. We find that while citizens strongly support participatory attitudes, policymakers are more skeptical, especially when participation threatens their control of the policy process. Elite skepticism stems mainly from low trust in citizens' capacity to deal with complexity, and to relieve the pressure to engage citizens more elites support learning‐based methods. The broad citizen‐elite attitude gap may require re‐negotiating representative mandates in the future.

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Section: Attitudes Towards Citizen Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decision‐makers, advisers or educable subjects? Policymakers' perceptions of citizen participation in a Nordic democracy

2023

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The emergence of externally active representative bureaucracy, a narrative review

Keiff

2024

Administrative Theory & Praxis

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Flying Without Instruments? The Deliberative Turn of the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council

2023

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How does an established institution incorporate deliberation by randomly selected citizens? Can they deliberate on an equal footing with interest group representatives? How do the latter envision citizen participation? This article attempts to answer these questions by analysing the deliberative mini-public 'New Generations' set up by the French Economic Social and Environmental Council (ESEC) in 2020. A socio-economic consultative assembly, the ESEC was the subject of a legislative reform adopted in January 2021, which establishes the possibility for the Council to have randomly selected citizens deliberate alongside representatives of interest groups. Relying on semi-structured interviews (n = 15), surveys at multiple points in time (n = 190), direct observation (11 days) and content analysis, we illustrate the limits of the integration of citizen deliberation within the ESEC. Articulating a longitudinal macro perspective (on the institutional and legislative transformations of the Council) with a sociological microanalysis (of the 'New Generations' experiment) allows us to underline that in the current implementation of citizens' participation in the ESEC, the institution seems to be 'flying without instruments'. Indeed, with few references to legal frameworks or scientific guidelines, the Council relies mainly on private consultants to implement deliberative practices. We thus worry that within the current political context, citizen deliberation is on its way to become an ad hoc resource, used by interest groups and institutions to defend their causes in the public sphere, but not leading to a direct implication of citizens in the decision-making process. 

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From the participatory turn of administrations to the bureaucratisation of participatory democracy: study based on the French case

Cited by 6 publications

References 35 publications

Decision‐makers, advisers or educable subjects? Policymakers' perceptions of citizen participation in a Nordic democracy

Decision‐makers, advisers or educable subjects? Policymakers' perceptions of citizen participation in a Nordic democracy

The emergence of externally active representative bureaucracy, a narrative review

Flying Without Instruments? The Deliberative Turn of the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council

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