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 -Membership (active) of interest group -Active in social movement or NGO -Ad hoc action or protest group -New: citizen participation in policy making

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

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 ?

Why citizen participation? 1.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

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

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

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,…)

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

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

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