TY - JOUR
T1 - Between radical aspirations and pragmatic challenges
T2 - Institutionalizing participatory governance in Scotland
AU - Escobar, Oliver
N1 - Funding Information:
The decade of work that underpins this paper was supported by three sources: the Principal’s Career Development PhD Scholarship at the University of Edinburgh; the What Works Scotland programme (funded by the UK Economic and Research Council ES/M003922/1 and the Scottish Government); and the Edinburgh Futures Institute. I want to thank all the policy workers who collaborated in the studies that provided the evidence base for this article, and in particular those participation practitioners who made possible the ethnographic strand by allowing me to shadow them. I am also grateful to the many people who supported this research agenda at various stages since 2010, including Richard Freeman, Andy Thompson, Fiona Mackay, Ailsa Henderson, Janet Newman, Nicola McEwen, Catherine Durose, Merlijn van Hulst, Claire Bynner, Richard Brunner, Hayley Bennet, James Henderson, Sarah Weakley, Mor Kandlik Eltanani, Ken Gibb, Nick Watson, Lynda Frazer and Lucy Janes.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021/12/16
Y1 - 2021/12/16
N2 - Participatory forms of governance are increasingly institutionalized in democracies around the world. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how public officials go about embedding participatory governance. This article draws on a decade of mixed methods research to share insights from the perspective of official public engagement practitioners working the frontlines of democratic innovation. Scotland is undergoing a period of democratic renewal resulting from the interplay between state and civil society initiatives around three policy agendas: public service reform, social justice and community empowerment. National legislation mandates local authorities to develop cross-Participatory forms of governance are increasingly institutionalized in democracies around the world. Yet, we know little about how public officials work to embed participatory governance. This article draws on a decade of mixed methods research with practitioners at the frontlines of democratic innovation. Scotland is undergoing democratic renewal through the interplay between state and civil society around three agendas: public service reform, social justice, and community empowerment. Legislation now mandates or supports participatory and deliberative processes. Scotland is thus a fruitful site to study the work of embedding participatory governance. The paper investigates tensions between radical aspirations and pragmatic challenges. Exploring participatory activism amongst officials shows the liminality of institutionalization processes, which troubles simplistic narratives about empowerment versus co-optation. The analysis shows significant but limited progress for participatory governance in Scotland. But this work is ongoing, as activist officials are developing ways of turning radical aspirations into critical pragmatism.
AB - Participatory forms of governance are increasingly institutionalized in democracies around the world. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how public officials go about embedding participatory governance. This article draws on a decade of mixed methods research to share insights from the perspective of official public engagement practitioners working the frontlines of democratic innovation. Scotland is undergoing a period of democratic renewal resulting from the interplay between state and civil society initiatives around three policy agendas: public service reform, social justice and community empowerment. National legislation mandates local authorities to develop cross-Participatory forms of governance are increasingly institutionalized in democracies around the world. Yet, we know little about how public officials work to embed participatory governance. This article draws on a decade of mixed methods research with practitioners at the frontlines of democratic innovation. Scotland is undergoing democratic renewal through the interplay between state and civil society around three agendas: public service reform, social justice, and community empowerment. Legislation now mandates or supports participatory and deliberative processes. Scotland is thus a fruitful site to study the work of embedding participatory governance. The paper investigates tensions between radical aspirations and pragmatic challenges. Exploring participatory activism amongst officials shows the liminality of institutionalization processes, which troubles simplistic narratives about empowerment versus co-optation. The analysis shows significant but limited progress for participatory governance in Scotland. But this work is ongoing, as activist officials are developing ways of turning radical aspirations into critical pragmatism.
KW - democratic innovation
KW - institutionalization
KW - internal activism
KW - participatory governance
KW - practitioners
KW - public officials
KW - social justice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121665052&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/19460171.2021.1993290
DO - 10.1080/19460171.2021.1993290
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85121665052
JO - Critical Policy Studies
JF - Critical Policy Studies
SN - 1946-0171
ER -