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Abstract:
Policy makers and many academics often define participatory processes as a tool to enhance democracy and to increase legitimacy. This paper presents empirical work in Flanders (for the Flemish government) and Tuscany (as part of the 6the Framework project ‘AG2020’ of the European Commission) followed by theoretical reflection on the conditions for success and failure of participatory democracy. The central proposition is that actors of participatory processes have mutual role expectations. Managing these role expectations at different levels at the same time is a necessary condition for building successful participative processes. In reality, this condition is often not met and the management of expectations is neglected by a lack of either financial or human resources. Especially in new democracies or transitory societies, participatory democracy bears some immanent dangers within it. This paper is an important contribution to the debate on democratisation since he offers a theoretical framework that (1) helps to understand and explain how and why participatory processes proceed and that (2) makes it possible to monitor ongoing process in order to improve their management.
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