Public participation in eco-social policies: Exploring mechanisms for bridging the gap
Even though public participation plays an important role in both environmental and social policy individually, less attention is paid to citizens and stakeholders as potential political agents for navigating the inherent tensions and synergies in eco-social policies. Against this backdrop, we chart the academic landscape as to how and through which mechanisms public participation may shape eco-social policies. We rely on three basic dimensions of participation, involvement, interaction, influence, and distil a framework comprising nine distinct causal pathways through which participation may influence, positively or negatively, the quality and coherence of eco-social policies. The framework includes various favorable mechanisms such as learning, conflict resolution or awareness raising, but also some that postulate a negative effect of participation, e.g., the tendency to base decisions on the lowest common denominator. Given the analysis’ explorative nature, we aim to stimulate further eco-social policy scholarship beyond an immediate focus on the state.
