Introduction: concepts and history of participative democracy

To go beyond the idealised mental picture that people have of participative democracy, this introduction retraces the origins of participative democracy and, using a few examples as a basis, underlines its specific characteristics in various contexts. This leads us to a number of discussion points surrounding the definition of participative democracy and its tools: degree of citizen involvement, issues addressed, value placed on knowledge and citizens’ input, on what level citizens participate.