Abstract
ABSTRACT Participatory forms of governance are increasingly institutionalised in democracies around the world. Yet, we know little about how public officials work to embed participatory governance. This article draws on a decade of mixed methods research with practitioners at the frontlines of democratic innovation. Scotland is undergoing democratic renewal through the interplay between state and civil society around three agendas: public service reform, social justice, and community empowerment. Legislation now mandates or supports participatory and deliberative processes. Scotland is thus a fruitful site to study the work of embedding participatory governance. This paper investigates tensions between radical aspirations and pragmatic challenges. Exploring participatory activism amongst officials shows the liminality of institutionalization processes, which troubles simplistic narratives about empowerment versus co-optation. The analysis shows significant but limited progress for participatory governance in Scotland. But this work is ongoing, as activist officials are developing ways of turning radical aspiration into critical pragmatism.
Highlights
Waves of participatory experimentation kickstarted by social movements in the 1960s have been landing with varied fortunes on institutional shores
In the winter of 2010, I interviewed Fiona McNeil,1 a government official whose job was to build a new institution for participatory governance across a Scottish local authority with a population nearing 100,000
The remaining sections will share insights into the pragmatic challenges confronted by public engagement officials, followed by their perspectives on the current state of participatory governance across Scotland
Summary
Waves of participatory experimentation kickstarted by social movements in the 1960s have been landing with varied fortunes on institutional shores. KEYWORDS participatory governance; democratic innovation; practitioners; public officials; institutionalization; social justice Civic institutions, such as participatory budgeting or deliberative mini-publics, may be experimentally developed as new political arenas in systems of local or national governance.
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