Participatory Reforms Research Articles

The Creation and Withdrawal of Spaces for Participatory Governance: The Case of Village Development Committees in West Bengal, India

This article examines how more democratic forms of state-citizen engagement can be engineered under less than favorable political conditions, through the case of the Village Development Committees under the Left Front government in West Bengal, India. Our research shows that these Committees embodied empowered participatory governance ideals and made meaningful contributions to citizens' participation within the local state, confirming the potential for well-designed institutions to deepen democratic engagement. However, this reform's abrupt reversal indicates that leftist parties are not automatically wholehearted supporters of empowered participatory governance, and that this reform needed to be connected to a wider set of claims about the Left Front's participatory successes, in order to build its legitimacy. Our wider argument is that research should examine not only the quality of participatory spaces themselves but also their political contexts, if we are to understand how experiments in empowered participatory governance can “scale up” and become durable.

How Can the Museums in Shanxi Province Make Better Use of the Participatory Model to Improve Public Education?

This research regards the whole practice of museum participatory mode reform in Shanxi Province as a case, and the related practices of Shanxi Museum, Shanxi Museum of Bronze, The Coal Museum of China, Taiyuan Museum and Shanxi Science and Technology Museum, which are the first to carry out museum participatory mode reform, as a case respectively. Collect relevant data through interviews, collate and analyze the problems reflected in these data, and finally form an in-depth understanding, reliable conclusions and constructive suggestions. Answered how can the museums in Shanxi Province make better use of the participatory model to improve public education.

Weak agency and preferences for participatory democracy: discourses of Spanish people in positions of socioeconomic disadvantage

ABSTRACT Recent studies exploring public opinion on participatory democracy show that disadvantaged social groups tend to hold favourable views on participatory processes. At the same time, research has also found that these groups frequently express feelings of weak agency and lack of competence to make valuable contributions to political processes. How then is support for democratic participation to be understood, if people see themselves as unskilled and incapable agents? To address this question, a series of focus groups were conducted with young, middle-aged, and older Spanish adults in situations of socioeconomic disadvantage. Like other studies, the analysis found that the participants had positive views of participatory reforms, but this was modified by low levels of personal and collective agency (internal and external efficacy and horizontal mistrust). While some scholars argue that such ambivalence is coherent with populism, the analysis suggests that many participants (particularly younger and middle-aged adults) are keenly appreciative of the complexity of such proposals and that negativity relates to the implementation of participative processes without genuine redistribution of knowledge and power, as well as a lack of mechanisms to guarantee responsiveness and commitment to bottom-up democracy.

From Public Participation to Constitutional Legitimacy: Evidence from Tunisia

Does public participation in constitution-making processes enhance constitutional legitimacy? Using an original public opinion survey conducted in Tunisia shortly after the adoption of the 2014 Constitution, this article examines whether public participation in constitution-making activities enhances perceived constitutional legitimacy. The results show that participants are more likely to support the constitution and its institutions than non-participants. We argue that participation increases constitutional literacy among the general public and this increased knowledge impacts the respondents’ perception of the constitution. The empirical findings confirm normative assumptions of participatory model of the democratic theory and suggest that inclusive and participatory constitutional reform processes, in contrast to an elitist approach, are more likely to yield democratic constitutional outcomes which are supported by larger segments of the society.

Human rights and democracy in economic policy reform: the European COVID-19 response under scrutiny

ABSTRACT This article argues that the impact of economic policy reforms on democratic institutions might compromise the enjoyment of human rights, especially economic, social, and cultural rights (ESC rights). This impact is twofold: First, economic reform policies driven by international and supranational institutions compromise democratic self-determination. Second, economic reform policies driven by the need to reduce public expenditure might put marginalised groups at risk and hamper their democratic participation. Since the realisation of ESC rights requires a framework for legitimate redistributive decisions, any such impairment of democratic institutions poses a risk to the realisation of ESC rights. Courts are unlikely to fully compensate for this risk. The Guiding Principles on Human Rights Impact Assessments of Economic Reforms (the Guiding Principles) devise a way for jointly strengthening human rights and democracy. Crucially, they urge states to subject economic policy reforms to democratic control. Human rights impact assessments may empower the public sphere and shift economic policy reforms from the Arcanum of high-level international negotiations back to democratic processes. Moreover, the Guiding Principles oblige states to design comprehensive and participatory economic policy reforms. The article shows the potential of the Guiding Principles by probing the European Union's response to COVID-19 and suggests improvements.

State-community relations and deliberative politics within federal forest governance in Nepal

Despite widespread participatory governance reforms in the forest sector in Nepal, how forest administration can be re-organised at multiple levels to enable community based forest management remains unexplored. Forest governance reforms in Nepal have involved numerous forms of collaboration and contestation between the state agencies and community-based forest stakeholders in the rapidly evolving federalist political context. Analysing an empirical case of community forestry in Nepal, this paper shows how state agencies and communities interact in the process of controlling and managing forest resources. It is argued in the paper that instituting deliberative processes in multi-level governance structure is a key to the functioning of a well-devolved forest governance. With the nation already adopting a new federal system of governance, it is crucial to clearly define the authorities of the federal, provincial and local level administrations. We also argue that the need for creating institutions and spaces for deliberative engagement between forest dependent community groups and the public administration is at an all-time high for achieving accountability and more effective forest governance. The future of Nepal's forestry and people living around forest resources depend to a large extent on how powers are shared by different levels of governments, and how these governments interact with one another, and with people and civil societies in their respective domains of governance.

Driving participatory reforms into the ground: The bureaucratic politics of irrigation management transfer in Pakistan

Abstract Participatory governance is a means of making the state more responsive and accountable to its citizens. However, attempts to involve end users in decision making are often met with considerable resistance not just from political elites, but from the bureaucracy. I investigate how and why bureaucrats resist such reforms by focusing on the implementation of the Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities Act (1997) in Pakistan, an Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) program that attempted to put farmers in charge of water allocation, revenue collection, and dispute resolution. Drawing on qualitative interviews conducted in 2015 and 2019 with bureaucrats across the administrative hierarchy and water sector practitioners and consultants, I emphasise the role bureaucratic perceptions and incentives played in driving this program into the ground over two decades. My argument is two-pronged. First, I show that bureaucratic resistance to participatory programs needs to be studied in light of wider political events and processes, particularly patterns of political engagement and parallel attempts at devolving power. Second, I find that the precarious conditions under which irrigation bureaucrats work make them unwilling to cede what official power and influence they do have to farmers. In other words, I contend that bureaucratic resistance to farmers’ involvement in decision-making is the result of a more nuanced set of political and bureaucratic experiences than the perceived technical superiority and colonial inheritance of the irrigation bureaucracy. More broadly, my argument has implications for participatory reforms in other sectors and for decentralized government in Pakistan and in other countries in the Global South.

Democracy from Above? The Unfulfilled Promise of Nationally Mandated Participatory Reforms

Democracy from Above? The Unfulfilled Promise of Nationally Mandated Participatory Reforms

La fabrique des inégalités environnementales en France

Sans souci d’exhaustivité et sans nier les apports de l’interdisciplinarité, cet article présente quelques contributions à la connaissance des inégalités environnementales, issues d’enquêtes sociologiques conduites sur les territoires français. Nous postulons, afin de tester ici quelques avancées issues de ces recherches que les inégalités environnementales ne peuvent uniquement se déduire des variables socio-économiques, quand bien même celles-ci jouent un rôle structurant. Par ailleurs, deuxième hypothèse, les politiques de protection de l’environnement, y compris dans leurs réformes participatives, contribuent le plus souvent à renforcer les inégalités plus qu’à les atténuer, malgré les objectifs d’équité affichés. Enfin, dernière hypothèse, se multiplient en France en ce début de siècle des mouvements sociaux pour la justice environnementale qui peuvent contribuer à lutter contre les inégalités sociales et environnementales.

Verfassungsreform in der Mongolei steigert Resilienz des politischen Systems

This report sheds light on the history, process and content of the fundamental reform of the Mongolian Constitution, a remarkably genuine piece of legislation carved out after the peaceful revolution of 1990 having undergone now a fundamental overhaul for the first time. Leaving behind decades of Soviet-influenced structures, the constitutional text of 1992 had succeeded in gaining a high level of trust for a democratically structured Mongolia. However, during almost three decades in operation, weaknesses had become evident. These included, in particular, the governments' lack of stability and of its capacity to act as well as a significant loss of prestige for the other central pillars of the state system. This mainly concerned the Parliament and its Members, but also to a very large extent the President of the Republic and the judiciary. Key issues in the discourse also included the participation of the population in the income from the country's resource wealth and the protection of its natural resources, as well as the weak structures at the municipal level. These fields were then also the subject of a strongly participatory reform process. The constitutional amendments reflect the underlying pressure to act. Thus, the new provisions strengthen the government's capacity to act, the independence of the judiciary as well as local self-government, while the dominant position of Parliament is being reduced and also the President of the Republic is losing essential powers. A full translation of the amendments into German is attached as an appendix.

Democracy from Above? The Unfulfilled Promise of Nationally Mandated Participatory Reforms. By Stephanie L. McNulty. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2019. 248p. $90.00 cloth, $28.00 paper.

Democracy from Above? The Unfulfilled Promise of Nationally Mandated Participatory Reforms. By Stephanie L. McNulty. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2019. 248p. $90.00 cloth, $28.00 paper.

Response to Nicole Bolleyer’s review of Democracy from Above? The Unfulfilled Promise of Nationally Mandated Participatory Reforms

Response to Nicole Bolleyer’s review of <i>Democracy from Above? The Unfulfilled Promise of Nationally Mandated Participatory Reforms</i>

Social accountability under authoritarianism: Public supervision of local governments in China

The uneven implementation of innovations in social accountability across China remains an empirical puzzle. Most existing research focuses on the procedural design of participatory mechanisms but does not discuss how they came about in the first place. Drawing on fieldwork data from several sites that experiment with the public supervision of local governments, this article examines the contextual factors that affect the emergence of social accountability innovations in China. This article argues that for an innovation in social accountability to emerge successfully, initiatives between the local state and citizens must be aligned. Three factors are found to be crucial: (1) social momentum for accountability; (2) the presence of backers at the elite level; and (3) an authentic opening for mobilization. The empirical findings reported here have important implications for the study of social accountability innovation in China and for participatory reforms more generally.

A Survey Experiment on Citizens’ Preferences for ‘Vote–Centric’ vs. ‘Talk–Centric’ Democratic Innovations with Advisory vs. Binding Outcomes

Previous research on public support for participatory decision-making fails to distinguish between vote-centric (referendums and initiatives) and talk-centric (deliberative-style meetings) instruments, despite a deliberative turn in democratic theory suggesting that political discussion among ordinary citizens improves decision-making. In an online factorial survey experiment conducted among a sample of 960 Americans recruited on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, we compared support for the use of referendums and public meetings, arguing that attitudes towards these instruments depend on whether they are used to inform legislators or take binding decisions. Public meetings were rated considerably lower than referendums and initiatives, especially when the outcomes were binding. Contrary to expectations, we did not find a preference for binding (over advisory) referendums and individuals from referendum and initiative states, where these instruments are legally binding, expressed less support for binding participatory reforms than individuals from non-direct democratic states. Despite the many critiques of direct democracy, public debate in the US has not considered whether advisory outcomes might appease some of these concerns. The results also demonstrated that individuals expressing concerns about the inability of ordinary citizens to understand politics and about the welfare of minority groups were not as negative about participatory decision-making when legislators had the final say.

Promoting or Controlling Political Decisions? Citizen Preferences for Direct-Democratic Institutions in Germany

After the 2017 Bundestag election, the relaunched government coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD announced in its coalition treaty to consider introducing ‘elements of direct democracy’ at the federal level, no doubt with the intent to address citizens dissatisfied with German representative democracy. However, it remains unclear which direct-democratic institutions citizens support. We explore this question by arguing that voter preferences for distinct forms of direct democracy differ according to the parties they sympathise with. More concretely, citizens seeking to introduce specific issues more actively support agenda initiatives that promote political decisions. In the German context, this group is mostly found among voters for the Greens and The Left, parties that have long advocated the expansion of democratic participation. In contrast, citizens feeling alienated from representative democracy prefer decision-controlling procedures in the form of mandatory referendums, which divert power away from elected politicians and direct them to the people. Politically, this group supports the AfD, a party that propagates direct democracy as a fundamental alternative to parliamentary democracy. The empirical study based on data derived from an internet panel survey confirms our argument. These findings have important implications for the current debate in Germany and the comparative study of participatory reforms.

Participatory Frustration: The Unintended Cultural Effect of Local Democratic Innovations

Most research on participatory processes has stressed the positive effects that these institutions have in the relationships between public authorities and civil society. This article analyzes a more negative product that has received scant attention: participatory frustration. Departing from Hirschman’s cycles of involvement and detachment, the article shows four paths toward frustration after engaging in institutional participatory processes: (a) inflated expectations, (b) the failure of design and adjusting mechanisms, (c) poor results, and (d) abrupt discontinuations. Drawing on six cases in Spanish cities, this article proposes a reflection on how participatory reforms can contribute to feed frustration and political disenchantment.

Participatory Adaptation in Contemporary Parliamentary Committees in Australia

Contemporary parliamentary institutions operate in a dynamic participatory and digital context. Recent studies demonstrate that many parliaments are rethinking how they reach out to the public in this changing environment. This article discusses the findings of empirical research that examined how and why parliamentary committees are adapting their public engagement practices. Parliamentary staff in six Australian parliaments were interviewed about the forms and extent of participatory adaptation in their committee systems. The research finds while committees continue to rely heavily on standard practices, such as written submissions and formal public hearings, many are adapting the way their public outreach and engagement practices. Four common participatory adaptations are identified including: employing new ways to promote and publicise committee work; using digital interfaces to collect and manage public input; increasing accessibility to affected publics; and building participatory capacity of committee members and affected publics. The article argues that in an era of significant political and digital change, parliamentary committees need to adopt a more strategic approach to participatory reform to better connect with, and represent, diverse publics.

The Romanian Constitution and Civic Engagement

Abstract The article discusses civic engagement in Romanian constitutionalism. First, I briefly discuss theoretical dimensions of the relation between citizens and constitutional change. Second, the Romanian Constitution will be analyzed in terms of formal constitutional instruments of civic participation. Third, civic engagement in constitution-making and constitutional reform since 1991 will be studied. I will conclude that in the early years of Romanian democratic constitutionalism, citizens’ formal possibilities and actual capacities for engagement in constitutional politics have been severely limited. Civic participation has, however, become more promising and prominent in the 2003 and 2013 reform processes. The Romanian dual experience with the Forum Constituţional ought to be studied as part of a larger wave of participatory constitutional reform in Europe, which also helps to bring out a more general problem of such reform, ie, the lack of formal institutionalization of civic participation.

Participatory Skepticism: Ambivalence and Conflict in Popular Discourses of Participatory Democracy

In recent years researches have focused on the preferences of ordinary citizens towards democratic deepening, asking: Do people want more institutional participation? The present work analyzes how different classes of people envisage a participatory democracy and its problems. Supported by qualitative research based on 16 focus groups conducted in Spain between 2011 and 2013, it is shown that skepticism plays a central role in the views of participatory democracy. Doubts surrounding its viability, negative expectations on the responsiveness of governments and, overall, distrust of the capacities of ordinary citizens, contribute to skepticism. In some groups these beliefs lead to a rejection of participatory reforms. In other groups, participants harbor hopes and positive prospects. For them, the key point is faith in education as a shortcut to political equality.

Citizen–Media Interaction in China’s Local Participatory Reform: a Contingent Participation Model

Mass media play an important role in grassroots democracy, yet the dynamics of media–citizen interaction remains under-researched. Using the case of the ‘Civil Monitory Organization’ (CMO) programme in Zhejiang’s Wenzhou city, this article shows how local media, and the local government to whom the local media are held accountable, shape citizen participation. This article develops the framework of ‘contingent participation’ to analyze the constraints on local political participation. Based on the observation of CMO activism, this article typologizes four participation behaviours: (1) symbolic participation; (2) instrumental participation; (3) managed participation; and (4) transgressive participation. This article concludes that contingent participation yields paradoxical results inherent under authoritarian rule: it aims to mobilize citizens to hold government accountable, yet denies the free flow of information and full participation of citizens.