Discourse Construction by Non-Government Actors in Urban Regeneration Governance

This paper employs critical discourse analysis to examine how Warsaw citizens (residents) perceived and organized the narratives of their participation in the governance of urban regeneration between 2004 and 2016 and how this evolved over that period. The study reveals citizens’ discursive practices, such as the construction of positive and negative identities of the relevant social actors, the binary opposition between ‘us and them’, the development of new interpretations of urban regeneration, and finally, the gradual elaboration of a model of empowered citizenship. Drawing on the concept of democratic urban regeneration policymaking, the research suggests that in the case of Warsaw, one can speak of a shift from a citizen discourse of rebellious participation in non-deliberative governance towards one of more consensual and empowering participation in more deliberative governance.

Governance for Environmental Human Rights Protection in the Context of Bangladesh: A Policy Perspective

The protection of environmental human rights demands an ethical governance frame work. This paper examines the characteristics of three governance models and argues that development planners and policymakers can employ deliberative governance that is nourished by public participation to protect environmental human rights in Bangladesh. The deliberative governance will pave the way to ecological modernization, implement ecologically sustainable development goals, and, in turn, ensure freedom, fairness and good governance since human societies desire to flourish human life. Philosophy and Progress, Vol#63-64-; No#1-2; Jan-Dec 2018 P 1-28

Balancing Sustainability Transitions through State-Led Participatory Processes: The Case of the Dutch North Sea Agreement

Following the Paris Agreement, investing in renewable energy production at sea is perceived as a promising development. In addition, food security challenges place increased focus on utilizing seas and oceans while biodiversity and ecosystem integrity must be safeguarded. In the North Sea, these three challenges are combined by the Dutch government in a deliberative governance agreement, involving key stakeholders, aimed at establishing a marine spatial allocation strategy. This paper outlines the development and first outcomes of this agreement. Using concepts of sustainability transitions and deliberative governance, we examined the role of the Dutch government in creating sustainability solutions through cross-sectoral participation processes. Based on our results, we argue that only the government can bring together parties that do not actively seek cooperation, like fisheries organizations and wind farm developers. This is in line with the government’s role to ensure compliance with international and national agreements, while also representing local (national) stakes. By opening up a discussion between parties that in the past were competing for marine space, the Dutch government has managed to make progress in obtaining transition goals. One of these transitions is the transition of the governance system itself, moving towards a more egalitarian style of policy making.

The listening hermeneutic of public servants: building on the implicit

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of phenomenological or attuned listening and explore its implications for deliberative governance. Drawing on examples from urban planning and city administration, we make a case for listening as a hermeneutic phenomenological practice of crucial importance for public organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis research relies on interpretive phenomenology, critical reflection, and political theory. Through the examination of case studies, we show that attuned or phenomenological listening contributes to greater participatory processes in organizations and to democratic governance processes, more generally.FindingsBy enhancing both collaborative endeavors and discretionary action, phenomenological listening acknowledges the unpredictable, dynamic and political aspects of organizations. Finally, it helps transform the latter into spaces where democratic and accountable action can take place.Practical implicationsThis perspective encourages public deliberation and attentive listening for practitioners to make decisions on the spot that are sensitive to people’s needs.Originality/valueEmbodied and attuned listening fosters reflection-in-action, as well as a reasoned pathway toward public accountability and deliberative democracy.

The Legal Construction of Power in Deliberative Governance

Deliberative democracy has grown into an influential normative paradigm for political theory and reform programs alike, but doubts persist about its desirability in a world where strategic action and inequality are prevalent. This problem has spurred efforts to understand the empirical dynamics of power relations in institutionalized participation. This article argues that sociolegal scholarship has yet to join this turn to power but that doing so can help it to specify law’s causal and normative relevance in deliberative governance. This is because the legal environment within which actors interact affects causal mechanisms by distributing opportunities for the exercise of power between potential participants, actual participants, and participants and government. The utility of a power-distributional perspective is illustrated through a study of São Paulo’s health councils, one of the world’s largest experiments in deliberative governance. The study demonstrates that the councils’ trajectory and current functioning—including some of their normatively problematic aspects—cannot be understood without reference to legal arrangements. This article is meant as a building block for sociolegal scholarship to continue investigating deliberation.