Abstract
A raft of United Nations Treaties, European Union Directives and domestic laws oblige governments in 180 + countries to apply the Participative Democratic Model of mainstreaming equalities to public administration by involving those targeted by equality initiatives at all stages in their design and delivery. Notwithstanding Participative Democratic Model’s deeply political nature, extant work has overlooked how governing party turnover influences civil society organisations’ (CSOs) strategies. Here, this lacuna is addressed using a negative ‘extreme case study’ research design involving qualitative accounts from civil society organisations in Wales, a ‘regional’ European polity characterised by one-party dominance. The findings reveal how the absence of turnover distorts the Participative Democratic Model in relation to diverse factors including: strategic bridging, extraparliamentary politics, cognitive locks and party institutionalisation. Inter alia, the wider contribution of this analysis lies in showing the importance of turnover to effective engagement, the ‘pathologies’ associated with one-party dominance and the need for adaptive civil society strategies tailored to prevailing electoral politics and governing party turnover in liberal democracies.
Highlights
This study is concerned with exploring the role of governing party turnover in shaping participative mainstreaming and civil society organisations’ (CSOs) strategies for engaging in the work of government
It suggests that CSOs need to adapt their strategic bridging so that their targeted lobbying of individual ministers and backbenchers is aligned with governing party turnover – and where appropriate, compensates for one-party dominance (OPD) by deliberate engagement with weaker opposition parties
The analysis identifies four areas affected by the absence of turnover: strategic bridging, action repertoires, framing and cognitive locks, and CSO networking and alliance building
Summary
This study is concerned with exploring the role of governing party turnover in shaping participative mainstreaming and civil society organisations’ (CSOs) strategies for engaging in the work of government. As the following discussion reveals, when OPD systems emerge, they distort the civil society–state nexus, potentially subverting the beneficial democratising elements of criticality and resource exchange seen in other liberal democracies In such instances, as Giliomee and Simkins (1999: 340) note, ‘the vital elements of democracy, namely genuine competition and uncertainty in electoral outcomes, are removed in a process that is self-sustaining’. It is a core tenet of equalities mainstreaming – as well as pluralist theory (Dahl, 1961) Both underline how exogenous civil society interests perform a pivotal role through knowledge transfer, service delivery, and critical engagement as part of the wider processes of agenda setting and holding government to account. This record has ensured that Labour has continuously held government office since the National Assembly for Wales was created in 1999.5
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