This chapter offers a working definition of social accountability as any citizen-led action beyond elections that aims to enhance the accountability of state actors. We view social accountability as a broad array of predominantly bottom-up initiatives, aimed at improving the quality of governance (especially …

In this chapter, we first summarise the findings from the country chapters on the multiple meanings of SA, documenting terms, translations and contrasting understandings between citizens and public officials. Second, we highlight how civil mobilisation tends to be cyclical over time and is often mediated …

From the traditional and pragmatic perspective on European cooperation shared by the Dutch political establishment, the French initiative for the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) was initially met with scepticism. Yet, during the experiment, the Dutch government and parliament translated their …

The climate crisis is an urgent and complex global challenge, requiring transformative action from diverse stakeholders, including governments, civil society, and grassroots movements. Conventional top-down approaches to climate governance have proven insufficient (e.g. UNFCCC, COP events), necessitating …

City governments increasingly experiment with civic participation in the procurement and the realization of smart city technologies in order to improve the incorporation of human values. In this paper, a model is proposed with the level of participation, the continuity of participation and the extent …

Issue In the Netherlands, the National Public Health Foresight Study (PHF) is published every 4 years, as starting point for national and local public health policy development. As these policies impact citizens’ health and lives, it is important to include their voices. We piloted an approach to strengthen …

The relevance of citizen participation in regeneration projects, particularly in shrinking cities, is widely acknowledged, and this topic has received a great deal of policy and academic attention. Although the many advantages of citizen participation in regeneration projects have been identified, its …

A public sector that adequately makes use of information technology can provide improved government services that not only stimulates business development it also intensifies citizen participation and economic growth. However, the effectiveness of IT and its governance at both national as well as on …