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Citizen participation in public policy making

Citizen participation in public policy making. Novum Forum Perspectives of Active Citizenship Ivo Hartman November 2009. Political participation. Trying to influence public policy: Writing letters /visiting authorities Making use of mass media Membership (active) of political party

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Citizen participation in public policy making

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  1. Citizen participationin public policy making Novum Forum Perspectives of Active Citizenship Ivo Hartman November 2009

  2. Political participation Trying to influence public policy: • Writing letters /visiting authorities • Making use of mass media • Membership (active) of political party • Membership (active) of interest group • Active in social movement or NGO • Ad hoc action or protest group • New: citizen participation in policy making

  3. Concepts • Citizen participation - individual citizens - specific policy making process • Deliberative democracy

  4. Political context Representative versus direct democracy • Initiative by executive body: what role of representative ? • Organized versus individual citizens ? • Participants reflection of population ? • Weight results participation in decision making ?

  5. Why citizen participation? • Increase legitimacy policy measures • Everyone has opportunity to have a say in this matter • Prevent protests legal actions after decisions made 2. Increase quality of policy • Citizens are expert in their own environment • Some citizens are experts in specific matters: use this • Prevent tunnel vision of authorities/civil servants

  6. What kind of issues suitable ? • Do citizens have knowledge/experience of issues involved ? • Are citizens (target groups) interested ? • Room for real policy choices?

  7. Participation scale What is the weight of the results of participation in decision making? 1. Participants take decisions instead of representative (delegation) 2. Participants co-produce policy plan 3. Participants give recommendations/suggestions 4. Citizens give their opinion

  8. Preconditions • Commitment executive and representative to take results into account in decision making ? • Is sufficient time and budget available ? • Authorities involved willing to facilitate participation process? (Expertise, publicity, use of hall/rooms, attend meetings,…)

  9. Aims and methods 1. Aim: increase legitimacy, make decisions acceptable, create support Use open methods: every one able to join in No one can say:’ They did not ask me’ Methods: choice questionnaire, open meetings and work groups, internet-debate, referendum, poll

  10. Aims and methods 2.Aim: increase quality, make use of citizens’ expertise and creativity Use methods with small selected groups of citizens, willing to invest time and energy: e.g. citizens panel, citizens forum, citizens jury, expert meeting, advisory council, consensus conference

  11. Main challenges • Mobilisation: How to recruit enough participants ? • Representation: How to recruit the right participants ? • Relevance: How to make sure that the results are taken into account in policy decisions ? • Publicity: How to make sure all citizens know about this participation process and about the results

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