Introduction

Securing the participation of citizens in the governance of their societies is currently presenting a challenge to governments worldwide. In many western democracies public participation rates are falling and cynicism about government and politics is the dominant feature. The resultant concern about low levels of public participation reflects an underlying unease about the health of western liberal democracies and the legitimacy of their modes of governance (Daemen and Schaap, 2000; Smith, 2005). Further afield, evidence from recent studies undertaken in the southern hemisphere reveals concern among citizens about institutional corruption, a disconnection between governing bodies and the lives of citizens and a lack of attention to the needs of the poorest (Commonwealth Foundation, 1999; Narayan et al, 2000; Gaventa, 2004).

For some observers the problem lies with the role played by the state. So, Ostrom (2000) argues that Scandinavian governments exhibit centralising tendencies that turn citizens into ‘passive observers’ and ‘crowd them out’ of participation in public policy (2000, p 12). For others the problem is linked to the state's subjugation to global capital, diluting the act of citizenship to an exercise in making choices about consumption (Klein, 2000; Monbiot, 2000). Limited public participation is also attributed to a wider societal malaise in which economic, social and technological changes have reduced citizens’ capacity to participate – what Putnam (1993, 2000) terms their ‘social capital’. Linked to all of these is an acknowledgement that some groups or communities are more adversely affected by this malaise in participation. For example, in both northern and southern hemispheres, poor people are identified as in need of special attention from the state and voluntary sector bodies to ensure their ‘inclusion’ in governance and ‘to build their capacity to participate’; both of the latter features have been evident in various UK regeneration programmes over the past 20 years.

According to Gaventa (2004), in “both South and North, there is growing consensus that the way forward is found in focusing on both a more active and engaged citizenry and a more responsive and effective state which can deliver needed public services” (2004, p 4; emphasis in original). One of the consequences of this is the recent articulation of citizens as ‘partners’ with state institutions and private and voluntary sector bodies in the identification and resolution of public policy problems (Sullivan and Skelcher, 2002).