Beyond the Agora
Participatory Policymaking Challenges and Lessons for Central and Eastern Europe
Direct democratic participation allows for inclusion, opens spaces for deliberation and legitimises the policymaking processes and their outcomes. Following that premise, the European Union has made it mandatory for its Member States to include participatory processes at the national level.
The case of Central and Eastern European countries presents a scenario where high percentages of passive citizenry contrast with the ideal of effective participatory policymaking. Moreover, surpassing that wall requires costly processes, as well as the time and interest of citizens themselves.
This report aims to unveil the general contextual difficulties CEE countries face in the bigger picture of participatory policymaking while rendering three cases from the region that provide lessons to improve the participatory approach.