Citizens’ Agenda-Setting in Democratic Systems

Democratic theorists generally agree that citizens should be involved in agenda-setting – namely, the crucial political process of determining which issues will or will not be at the center of political action, and which solutions will or will not be taken into consideration. However, we know little about how ordinary citizens should participate in this process. The lack of a clear conceptual and normative framework hampers our ability to assess the democratic character of existing inequalities of influence over agenda-setting and the legitimacy of recurring calls to reform representative democracies to increase citizens’ involvement in selecting solutions to collective problems.

The project Citizens’ Agenda-Setting in Democratic Systems aims to expand democratic theory by asking the following research question: what should be the role of ordinary citizens in democratic agenda-setting? The project develops conceptual and normative resources to go beyond reductive control-focused conceptions of democratic citizenship and understand how, and when, citizens can and should positively contribute to setting priorities and defining solutions in democratic systems. It also systematically identifies, compares, and evaluates traditional and innovative political processes that enable citizens’ agenda-setting, thus informing debates about which institutional reforms and designs might contribute to deepening democracy.

• Svenja Ahlhaus, University of Münster, Germany
• Annabelle Lever, Sciences Po Paris, France