Governing Modern Societies Towards Participatory Governance

Is the ‘golden age’ of democracy really over due to the pressures of globalisation and the erosion of the nation state? Within this book, Heinelt seeks to address the democratic deficit in political systems linked to limited Citizen Participation reflecting on the notion of democracy and participatory governance and how they relate to each other. Exploring democracy beyond the governmental structures and focusing on participatory governance in particular this book demonstrates that common notions of democracy have to be re-conceptualised without neglecting its key ideas. By arguing that it is a political task to turn the inevitability of governance into a participatory form, Heinelt develops a model of different ‘worlds of democratic actions’ which shows that democratic political systems have to be considered as a complex and broad web of various forms of interest articulation and intermediation as well as decision-making. Making an important contribution to the ‘third transformation of democracy’, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of governance, democracy, policymaking & European studies.

1. Introduction 2. Starting Points and Key Conceptual Considerations 3. Different Sectors of Interest Intermediation and their 'Composition' in Political Systems 4. Achieving Governability: The Case of the EU Structural Funds and EU Environment Policy 5. Reforms and Reform Perspectives of Governance-Arrangements and the Difference of Opinions between 'Discourse Communities' 6. Multi-Level Systems and Flexible Power Geometry 7. Conclusions/Perspectives. References

Hubert Heinelt is currently professor for public administration/public policy and urban studies at the Institute of Political Science at Darmstadt University of Technology. His current research focuses on European integration, EU cohesion policy and on urban studies, as well as on issues of participatory governance.