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Citizen participation and neighbourhood governance : analysing democratic practice.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

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  • Michael Farrelly
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>08/2009
<mark>Journal</mark>Local Government Studies
Issue number4
Volume35
Number of pages14
Pages (from-to)387-400
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

From the late 1990s the New Labour government implemented changes to local government and, within the context of a discourse of ‘democratic renewal’, also introduced neighbourhood-based participatory Forums. In this paper, a framework is set out for analysing the democratic effectiveness of Area Forums. This framework sees Area Forums as novel social practice entailing interaction and assesses them against normative characteristics for an effective democratic public sphere; the analysis is applied to a case study of Area Forums in a small English city and finds them lacking in this respect. Aspects of Area Forums may even present barriers to effective participation.