PhD defence V. (Vivian) Visser

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:

Citizens' initiatives are on the rise in Western European countries. Citizens are taking control together
their own hands to tackle local problems, shape communal facilities or otherwise take initiatives to improve the quality of their living environment or otherwise take initiatives to improve the quality of their living environment.
improvement. Although in principle these initiatives operate independently, in practice they are (partly) dependent on public support, e.g. in the form of funding, convenient contacts or legitimacy. Whereas previously, governments mainly waited for initiatives to applied for support, today we see governments increasingly actively and explicitly encouraging citizens to and explicitly encourage citizens to organise themselves into initiatives. This is also called 'inviting governance'.

This development is the result of several factors. Citizens demand more space from governments to develop their own initiatives because they have little faith in traditional institutions of representative democracy and believe they themselves can tackle societal challenges better than governments. At the same time, governments encourage citizens' initiatives because they realise that they need the knowledge, resources and skills of citizens to meet societal challenges. In addition, citizens' initiatives are seen as a way to bridge the gap between government and citizens.

Because citizens' initiatives empower citizens to directly influence their living environment, they are praised in both academic debate and public policy for their democratising value. Critics, however, warn that encouraging and glorifying initiatives increases social inequalities, which can actually harm democracy. Indeed, time and again, research shows that practically educated citizens in particular are 16 underrepresented in participation in civic initiatives.

Therefore, this research aims to better understand how governments invite citizens to take initiative and how those invitations are received by citizens.This research thus answers the question: How do governments shape invitational governance and how is this perceived by citizens?