A new position for civil society and citizens?

Increased interdependencies and changed economic and political strategies have altered the role and resources of government while the spread of neo-liberalism and pluralism has affected perceptions of the legitimate role of government and increased the dependence of government on other actors. These transformations have led to ongoing reform of institutions, structures and processes in an effort to respond effectively to the challenges of change. Acknowledgement of defects in current democratic systems has caused governments everywhere to focus on the puzzles identified in Chapter 1. A common approach to resolving these puzzles at local level is to institutionalise linkages between politicians, public servants, communities and citizens, thereby reducing the tensions between representative, associative and participatory forms of democracy. Consequently, many countries have introduced schemes for re-engaging citizens and civil society as a means of ‘democratic renewal’. This chapter explores the theoretical and empirical manifestations of such strategems.