Abstract:

Participatory governance (PG), as a subset of governance theory, is a popular phenomenon that emphasizes democratic participation with deliberative practices, bases participation on detailed principles and institutions, and aims to strengthen citizen participation in this way. Conceptually, the existing literature on the distinctive features of participatory governance initiatives is limited. On the other hand, although participatory governance offers attractive solutions as normative, it may encounter various problems in practice. This article aims to provide an in-depth discussion on participatory governance by comparing normative discourses and practical experiences on participatory governance. Participatory governance as theoreticaly and practically has been compared under five headings: representative democracy-legitimacy, effectiveness-efficiency, inclusiveness-sustainability, accountability and public value. As a result, PG provides successful results in solving the participation problems of representative democracy and ensuring efficiency at the local level through deliberative processes. On the other hand, it has been seen that participatory governance produces different results in different social, political and administrative contexts. Participatory governance is far from being a determinant on its own in objectives such as ensuring political legitimacy, accountability, inclusiveness and creating public value.

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