Policy Hub
On 30 June 2008, the Social Market Foundation (SMF) published a report (Disconnected citizens: is community empowerment the solution?) which calls on the government to do more to facilitate community empowerment.
The report argues that the dramatic rise in participatory opportunities in recent years has not been accompanied by an improvement in people’s sense of connection to formal politics. Nor do people feel more empowered to influence decisions.
The report asks whether there is a mismatch between the government’s ambition to reinvigorate local democracy and its assertion that participatory empowerment mechanisms can provide the solution.
A number of explanatory factors are examined, including: the evolution of a false dichotomy between representative and participatory democracy; a failure of initiatives to transfer power in a meaningful sense; and a lack of clarity and transparency in lines of accountability for decision-making. The report considers the implications of these factors in designing a model of empowerment which can reinvigorate democracy.
Disconnected citizens: is community empowerment the solution? (PDF)