Governments today are asking citizens to come forward to participate in political decision making, not just locally but on a national stage, to debate some of the most complex, and the hardest decisions of our time – about science policy, for example, health, environmental issues, world poverty and global resource use. But how feasible is such a demand? We are often told that citizens are more sophisticated and reflective than ever before. They are better informed, they weigh options and make myriad personal and family choices. Yet they have become less loyal to leaders and more critical of governments. Their lives are busy and diverse; many have become individualistic, inward-looking and disengaged. Fewer are turning out to vote in national and local elections. Both severe economic and social inequality, and privilege and social advantage can turn out to be sources of political disconnection. Even if people are willing to participate in a direct way, is there a corpus of knowledge, imagination and understanding capable of creating the kind of political space in which citizens feel comfortable and can make a contribution? Assuming questions such as these can be resolved satisfactorily, there is still the issue of where direct citizen participation fits in relation to the existing political institutions and the accountability structures that they entail. Citizen participation is undoubtedly in fashion right across western democratic states. But that does not mean that there are not hard questions to be asked of it.

Calls for more citizen participation have arisen against a background of change. New social movements have done much to force the pace. Greens, feminists, minority ethnic groups and people with disabilities, to name but a few, have provided powerful critiques of policy directions. Some of these groups now find themselves at the policy table alongside industrial and trades union interest groups in a more complex stakeholder dialogue where governments are anxious to portray themselves as more flexible and responsive. Engaging directly with the public is a theme that attracts political parties of all hues as they attempt, in this context, to shed old ideologies, reposition themselves beyond left and right, and grapple with the complexities of just what kinds of legislative interventions are imperative and acceptable.