Cahier du crises

Although the welfare state is currently being transformed, it continues to exist in new forms. These vary in different cities and regions. They have in common to involve citizenry in micro-participation, while managing macro-participation by the elite. Especially community-based management and participatory democracy turn out to be concepts for socially innovative strategies which are fundamentally Janus-faced, as they tend to be strategically selective – including some actors, while excluding others. Critical social movements may be co-opted into the state and lose their potential to contest political decision. But bottom-up participation can also be a step towards the proposed utopia of democratic governance.