[movimenti.bicocca] Citizen Participation in a Mediated Age:…

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
OnlineEarly Articles
To cite this article: JUSTUS UITERMARK, JAN WILLEM DUYVENDAK
Citizen Participation in a Mediated Age: Neighbourhood Governance in
The Netherlands
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (OnlineEarly
Articles).
doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2007.00743.x

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Abstract
Citizen Participation in a Mediated Age: Neighbourhood Governance in
The Netherlands
JUSTUS UITERMARK11Amsterdam School for Social Science Research,
University of Amsterdam, The NetherlandsJustus Uitermark
(j.l.uitermark@???) and Jan Willem Duyvendak (duyvendak@???)
Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, University of
Amsterdam, Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
and JAN WILLEM DUYVENDAK11Amsterdam School for Social Science
Research, University of Amsterdam, The NetherlandsJustus Uitermark
(j.l.uitermark@???) and Jan Willem Duyvendak (duyvendak@???)
Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, University of
Amsterdam, Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
1Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, University of
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Justus Uitermark (j.l.uitermark@???) and Jan Willem Duyvendak
(duyvendak@???) Amsterdam School for Social Science Research,
University of Amsterdam, Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam, The
Netherlands.
Henk Dokter and Renee Gorissen worked on the research as student
assistants. We warmly thank both of them for their hard work and
persistence.
Abstract

Two developments — the fragmentation of governance and the
mediatization of politics — lead governmental organizations to engage
in discursive and institutional competition. These new circumstances
also drastically change the relationship of governmental
organizations to clients, target groups and the citizenry as a whole.
We empirically investigate these changes through a study of a
privately funded community development organization in the
Netherlands, the Neighbourhood Alliance. In this case, it is no
longer the citizenry that articulates a public discourse, but a
public discourse that, through the mediation of an institutional
entrepreneur like the Neighbourhood Alliance, stipulates what type of
participation is appropriate. This development raises the critical
issue of the nature and mechanisms of democratic engagement in a
fragmented, mediatized polity.
Résumé
Deux évolutions — la fragmentation de la gouvernance et la
médiatisation de la politique — poussent les organismes
gouvernementaux à une concurrence symbolique. Ces contextes nouveaux
changent aussi radicalement la relation entre ces organismes et les
usagers, les groupes ciblés et les citoyens dans leur ensemble. Nous
examinons ces transformations à travers une étude empirique d'une
structure néerlandaise à fonds privés de développement de quartiers,
Wijkalliantie (alliance de quartier). En l'occurrence, ce ne sont
plus les habitants qui déclinent un discours public, mais un discours
public qui, par le biais d'une entreprise institutionnelle comme
l'alliance de quartier, spécifie le type de participation approprié.
Cette évolution soulève la question cruciale de la nature et des
mécanismes de l'engagement démocratique dans un fonctionnement
politique fragmenté et médiatisé.