Citizen Participation and Sustainable Development Graham Smith School of Social Sciences University of Southampton

The attitude-behaviour ‘gap’ A barrier to environmental citizenship How to bridge the ‘gap’ between citizens’ environmental attitudes and their actual behaviour? significant level of environmental awareness and concern amongst citizens. rarely converts into the type of behaviour necessary for sustainable development – e.g. cutting back on car usage, changing consumption patterns, etc. Important role for public authorities? regulatory and fiscal incentives necessary to shape environmentally-sensitive behaviour.

The problem of government intervention? To achieve sustainable outcomes, public authorities will need to employ a greater range of policy instruments Legal regulation Green taxation, etc. But, strong public resistance to imposition of measures to achieve radical changes in consumption patterns. Citizens are suspicious of the motives of public authorities. Increased state intervention is likely to increase sense of political alienation.

Responding to the conundrum: citizen participation Citizen participation and deliberation in the decision making process offers an ingenious solution… Citizens are ‘dissatisfied democrats’ Lack of trust in political institutions But strong commitment to democratic norms Increases legitimacy of potentially controversial policies. Citizen participation in the formulation of environmental policy offers a mechanism for building trust in public authorities and acceptance / support of decisions. Improves knowledge-base for decision making. Information flows between citizens and decision makers.

Responding to the conundrum: citizen participation Enhances environmental citizenship Orientates citizens towards the public good and promotes reflection on environmental values. Exposes the narrowly self-interested grounds of many environmentally-degrading and unsustainable practices. Citizens confront the implications of policy choices, such as the environmental costs of consumption and production patterns. Part of the process of ‘internalising’ environmental values and developing an ‘environmental ethos’. Opportunity to develop skills, capacities and dispositions necessary for environmental citizenship.

Sustainable policy? There is no guarantee that citizen participation will lead to sustainable development. However, good reasons to expect more environmentally-informed decisions that are accepted as legitimate by citizens. Arguing for participation and deliberation is the easy part… Evidence from practice?

Experiments in participation Deliberative innovations If participation is to be embedded in the political process, we need to think carefully about institutional design. Many participation exercises have been poorly designed and executed, often increasing the alienation of citizens. Growing interest in democratic experiments such as citizens’ juries, consensus conferences and deliberative opinion polls Independent organisation and facilitation to ensure fairness Careful selection of cross-section of the population Presentations and opportunity to question ‘experts’ Citizens given time to deliberate over policy options

Experiments in participation Deliberative innovations Evidence indicates that citizens are willing and able to deliberate on controversial and complex policy issues and provide reasoned decisions. A small number of deliberative innovations have been run on environmental issues, e.g. Consensus conferences – Danish Board of Technology. Deliberative opinion polls – Texas public utilities. Evidence indicates that environmental considerations are given significant weight in citizens’ deliberations and decisions (but evidence is based on only a few cases).

Experiments in participation Deliberative innovations At present such innovations remain marginal. The challenge is to embed meaningful citizen participation into the decision making process. An example – Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform (British Columbia) 160-strong randomly-selected assembly of citizens who met regularly for a year. Recommendations put directly to a popular referendum. Not an ‘environmental’ example, but shows how deliberative innovations can play a significant role.

Experiments in participation Deliberative innovations are not the only option for democratic renewal Lessons to be drawn from, for example, participatory budgeting, citizens initiative, etc. Beyond the traditional ‘political’ realm – democratic participation in the social economy Co-operatives, mutuals and voluntary organisations, associations and foundations that engage in productive activity with a social remit. Ethos and democratic structure offer a promising context for the promotion of environmental citizenship.

Enhancing citizen participation There is a potentially significant relationship between citizen participation and sustainable development. Increases the legitimacy of decisions. Improves the knowledge base for decision making. Enhances environmental citizenship. Without widespread experimentation and support for democratic innovations (in the political and economic realm), the evidence will remain only suggestive. BUT, how to overcome the reluctance of public authorities to increase opportunities for meaningful citizen participation?