Citizenship - governance - participation

I have been involved in several advisory groups and think-tank exercises considering aspects of citizenship, governance and participation, where I have particularly emphasised the significance of informal behaviours and relations at local level.

 

Fundamentally, civil relations reflect the necessity for non-threatening relations between people who share and negotiate the same space. From this we get the notion of responsibilities - to others (citizens), to the state, and to the Other (non-citizens).

These responsibilities are accepted or not, in return for security and protection, pooled resources (including an organised economy and hence employment opportunities), opportunities for personal development, and so on.

 

Citizenship, at least in the UK, thus comes across as an unwritten contract between individual citizens, and between individual citizens and the state. It provides us with an implied assurance that others will treat us in a civil manner, and its subtleties and nuances are tested and played out in the neighbourhood.

One area in which these issues are going to be examined is localism and neighbourhood governance. In the context of the government's 2006 proposals, Local Level carried out a review for Swindon Borough Council's Community Services. In addition, I was commissioned by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to write a paper on localism, governance and the public realm, published in 2007. 

 

Key piece of work
In January 2005 I organised a workshop on citizenship for delegates from the City of Eindhoven. The event took place in Cambridge and was designed in partnership with Drew Mackie and David Wilcox, the Government office for the east of England, and Fontys University in the Netherlands. It included presentations about UK initiatives on citizen participation; and a game to explore aspects of citizenship from the perspective of individuals.

 

Journal article on respect

An article written by Jan Steyaert and Kevin Harris, comparing policy on the theme of respect in the Netherlands and the UK was published in Alert in 2006. The article is available here in Dutch only.