New virtual collection on Public Participation: free to download until 20 September

BROWN_Sarah Sarah Brown,
Journal Manager of Policy & Politics

Read our new free virtual collection on Public Participation while you’re at ECPR 2018. All the articles are free to download from 20 August – 20 September 2018.

Whatever your view on public participation, our new virtual collection brings you our most recent research on the topic from a range of different perspectives, all of which aim to enhance our understanding of its importance. Opening the collection is one of our most innovative articles that seeks to address the gap between evidence and policy on how population health outcomes are determined by health discourses. To explore understandings of the cause of ill health in two deindustrialised areas of Scotland, interviews with participants produced vivid articulations of the links between politics, policies, deindustrialisation, damage to community fabric and impacts on health, hence the title: Working-class discourses of politics, policy and health: ‘I don’t smoke; I don’t drink. The only thing wrong with me is my health’.

Moving from health to the process of devolution of political powers in England, the author team behind citizen participation and changing governance: cases of devolution in England, ask if the widely criticised lack of consultation during that process was justified, and what impact deeper public engagement might have produced.

Finally, Beyond radicalism and resignation: the competing logics for public participation in policy decisions questions our current understanding of public participation in policy decisions, suggesting that the existing typologies we use cannot fully encompass the multiple ways in which participation can be constructed. In an attempt to broaden our understanding, the paper connects the variety in participatory practices to the broader ideologies that inform its design.

All of these articles appear on our list of most cited articles so far in 2018, so download them now while they’re free to access.

Also check out our latest special issues which are also free to access: