Putting the Public Back into Governance: The Challenges of Citizen Participation and Its Future

Archon Fung

doi:10.1111/puar.12361

journal article Feb 25, 2015

Putting the Public Back into Governance: The Challenges of Citizen Participation and Its Future

Archon Fung

Public Administration Review Vol. 75 No. 4 pp. 513-522 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1111/puar.12361

Abstract

AbstractThe past two decades have seen a proliferation of large‐ and small‐scale experiments in participatory governance. This article takes stock of claims about the potential of citizen participation to advance three values of democratic governance: effectiveness, legitimacy, and social justice. Increasing constraints on the public sector in many societies, combined with increasing demand for individual engagement and the affordances of digital technology, have paved the way for participatory innovations aimed at effective governance. Deepening legitimation deficits of representative government create opportunities for legitimacy‐enhancing forms of citizen participation, but so far, the effect of participation on legitimacy is unclear. Efforts to increase social justice through citizen participation face the greatest obstacles. The article concludes by highlighting three challenges to creating successful participatory governance: the absence of systematic leadership, the lack of popular or elite consensus on the place of direct citizen participation, and the limited scope and powers of participatory innovations.

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848

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35

References

Details

Published: Feb 25, 2015
Vol/Issue: 75(4)
Pages: 513-522
License: View

Authors

A

Archon Fung

Harvard University

Cite This Article

Archon Fung (2015). Putting the Public Back into Governance: The Challenges of Citizen Participation and Its Future. Public Administration Review, 75(4), 513-522. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12361

Putting the Public Back into Governance: The Challenges of Citizen Participation and Its Future

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