Public Deliberation in an Age of Direct Citizen Participation

TLDR

Citizen participation in decision‑making has evolved from reliance on officials in the early 20th century to increased direct involvement in the late 20th century, reflecting contemporary democratic imperatives. The article aims to summarize past experiments in direct citizen participation, detailing their forms, challenges, and consequences. The authors review and synthesize previous direct citizen participation experiments to identify their forms, challenges, and outcomes. The review highlights key issues and challenges that remain for future research and practice.

Abstract

Citizen participation in the decisions that affect their lives is an imperative of contemporary society. For the first half of the 20th century, citizens relied on public officials and administrators to make decisions about public policy and its implementation. The latter part of the 20th century saw a shift toward greater direct citizen involvement. This trend is expected to grow as democratic societies become more decentralized, interdependent, networked, linked by new information technologies, and challenged by “wicked problems.” The purpose of this article is to summarize the past experiments in direct citizen participation—the forms they take, the challenges they raise (including the need for redefined roles for public officials and citizens), and the consequences they produce. By laying out what has been done in the past, we are better positioned to identify the critical issues and challenges that remain for researchers and practitioners to address in the future.