Abstract

Against the background of a still controversial debate over participatory governance, the intention of this issue is to scrutinise critically central aspects of this controversy. In particular, the papers here explore regular, routine forms of participatory governance in the heart of political power, namely in administrative procedure. By contrast, political sciences and sociology often focus on new, alternative procedures, including citizen juries, consensus conferences, scenario workshops, and public consultation exercises. Normal forms of participatory governance in constitutional democracy are inevitably governed by rule of law such that a legal framework lies behind participants' concrete actions or communications.