Pleitbezorgers, procesmanagers en participanten : Interactief beleid en de rolverdeling tussen overheid en burgers in de Nederlandse democratie

Abstract

This book describes the history of 'interactive planning', i.e. the idea, method and practice of organising citizen participation that emerged and developed since the early 1990s in Dutch environmental policy. The book adds to previous accounts on the subject, by employing a critical perspective on the politics of interactive planning. It specifically questions the idea that interactive planning enhances democracy by altering the division of roles between government and citizens. It does so by scrutinising the activities of three groups of people who shaped the history of interactive planning while developing their roles: the advocates of interactive planning; process managers organising and managing interactive planning projects; and citizens participating in these projects. The book is based on detailed studies of the language, narratives, and roles of advocates, process managers and participants in their respective contexts. The chapters describe and explain what these people tell about their experiences with interactive planning, and how they talk about it. The first study in the book narrates the rise and demise of the network of policy researchers, administration scientists, consultants, governors and midlevel bureaucrats advocating interactive planning as an idea. The second study shows that there is a division of labour between three types of process managers. This division of labour unveils three corresponding layers in the institutional structure of interactions between governments and citizens: the layers of networks, processes and sessions. The third study is a case study of the activities, stories and roles of citizens participating in regional planning projects in the 'southern Randstad', a highly urbanised region in the west of the Netherlands. By drawing the outcomes of these studies together, the author uncovers the intricate relation between interactive planning, democracy and power. Interactive planning is not the clear cut democratic improvement its advocates hoped for, nor the top-down 'public support machine' its critics warned for. The democratic meaning of interactive planning is to be found in the concrete activities and real life stories of governors, bureaucrats, citizens, politicians, and others involved in interactive planning.