Towards Interactive Governance: Embedding Citizen Participation in Local Government

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00953997231177220
• Author: Anni Jäntti,Henna Paananen,Anna-Aurora Kork,Kaisa Kurkela
• Date: 01 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997231177220

Administration & Society

2023, Vol. 55(8) 1529 –1554

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/00953997231177220

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Article

Towards Interactive

Governance: Embedding

Citizen Participation in

Local Government

Anni Jäntti1, Henna Paananen1,

Anna-Aurora Kork1, and Kaisa Kurkela1

Abstract

In this article, we explore the embedding of citizen participation in local

government. Our study combines and synthesizes the focal aspects of two

theoretical streams—citizen participation and interactive governance—

in a novel way to identify, illustrate, and analyze the layers of governance

required for citizen participation. The analysis shows how the institutional

pervasiveness and holistic nature of citizen participation affects the

strategic, executive, and citizen interface layers of governance and their

interconnections. The research contributes to the literature on embedding

citizen participation in government by emphasizing the need to address

citizen participation as a profound question of governance and management.

Keywords

interactive governance, citizen participation, governance, public management,

local government

Introduction

Due to the need for open government and as an attempt to tackle the crisis of

representative democracy, promoting citizen participation and linking it to

1Tampere University, Finland

Corresponding Author:

Anni Jäntti, Tampere University, Pinni A3037, 33014 Tampere, Finland.

Email: anni.jantti@tuni.fi

1177220AAS0010.1177/00953997231177220Administration & SocietyJäntti et al.

research-article2023

1530 Administration & Society 55(8)

local government decision-making has a strong, societally recognized basis

in democratically governed societies (see, e.g., Ansell & Torfing, 2016;

Michels & De Graaf, 2010). The public governance literature has paid exten-

sive attention to the aims of citizen participation (e.g., Boedeltje & Cornips,

2004; Klijn, 2011; Sørensen, 2013; Sørensen & Torfing, 2005) and to partici-

patory instruments and processes (e.g., Bryson et al., 2013; Cuthill, 2001;

Michels & De Graaf, 2010; Nabatchi & Amsler, 2014).

However, despite the vast literature on citizen participation, it remains

unclear how to embed citizen participation into the government of public sec-

tor organizations (Osborne & Strokosch, 2022). Embedding citizen participa-

tion in government practices is complicated and requires attention to the

interconnections between interactive governance and democratic institutions

(Edelenbos et al., 2010).

In this article, we explore the embedding of citizen participation in local

government. We ask, how can citizen participation be embedded in the gov-

ernment? We answer the research question by first synthesizing the extant

literature on citizen participation and interactive governance to identify the

layers of governance implicit in citizen participation. Second, we formulate a

categorization of these layers and use the synthesis to guide our empirical

analysis. In the analysis, we further illustrate the layers and their interconnec-

tions by analyzing interview data on the efforts of the City of Helsinki

(Finland) to enhance citizen participation. By doing so, this study contributes

to the literature on embedding citizen participation in government.

The article consists of five main sections. After the introduction, we theo-

retically frame our paper by investigating interactive governance and citizen

participation from an organizational viewpoint. In the extant literature, we

identify three layers of governance that contribute to embedding citizen par-

ticipation in local government organizations. We use this theoretical concep-

tualization as an analytical frame for qualitatively analyzing the interview

data to isolate the critical points in each of the layers that contribute to embed-

ding citizen participation in local government. In addition, we shed light on

the interconnectedness of these layers. Finally, we discuss the need to address

citizen participation as a profound question of governance and management

in order to embed it into government.

Interactive Governance Enabling Citizen

Participation

In this article, we combine two theoretical streams that are crucial for under-

standing the embedding of citizen participation in government. Drawing

from the extant literature on (a) citizen participation research and (b)