From competition and collusion to consent-based collaboration: a case study of local democracy Citation for published version (APA): Romme, A. G. L., Broekgaarden, J., Huijzer, C., Reijmer, A., & van der Eyden, R. A. I. (2018). From competition and collusion to consent-based collaboration: a case study of local democracy. International Journal of Public Administration, 41(3), 246-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2016.1263206 DOI: 10.1080/01900692.2016.1263206 Document status and date: Published: 17/02/2018 Document Version: Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. 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I. van der Eyden (2018) From Competition and Collusion to Consent-Based Collaboration: A Case Study of Local Democracy, International Journal of Public Administration, 41:3, 246-255, DOI: 10.1080/01900692.2016.1263206 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2016.1263206 Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC© 2017 A. Georges L. Romme, Jan Broekgaarden, Carien Huijzer, Annewiek Reijmer, and Rob A. I. van der Eyden. Published online: 27 Dec 2016. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 487 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=lpad20 Download by: [Eindhoven University of Technology] Date: 05 January 2018, At: 00:53 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 2018, VOL. 41, NO. 3, 246–255 https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2016.1263206 From Competition and Collusion to Consent-Based Collaboration: A Case Study of Local Democracy A. Georges L. Romme a, Jan Broekgaardenb, Carien Huijzerb, Annewiek Reijmerc, and Rob A. I. van der Eydenc aSchool of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands; bKring Besluitvorming Openbaar Bestuur, Utrechtse Heuvelrug, Netherlands; cThe Sociocracy Group/Sociocratisch Centrum, Rotterdam, Netherlands ABSTRACT KEYWORDS The high distrust in political institutions and a growing sense of powerlessness among many Political trust; local citizens suggest that prevailing democratic governance systems lack a capability for collective democracy; civil dialogue and learning. The key thesis here is that public governance systems can benefit from participation; informed organizational arrangements informed by circular design. A case study conducted at a Dutch consent; circular design municipality illustrates how principles of circular design served to enhance the city council’s role of orchestrator of civil participation. This case also illustrates how a local democracy, which has long suffered from majority–minority ploys and voting schemes, can be transformed into a consent-based culture of collaboration. Introduction character of much research in the area of political science and public governance (e.g., Gunnell, 2004; In many Western democracies, trust in public institu- Ricci, 1984; Schram, Flyvbjerg, & Landman, 2013). In tions and politicians is decreasing and a sense of this respect, the mission of political science, envisioned powerlessness among many citizens is growing (e.g., by its founding fathers in the late nineteenth century, Anderson, Blais, Bowler, Donovan, & Listhaug, 2005; was to have science serve democracy (Gunnell, 2006). Citrin, Levy, & Wright, 2014). Studies of trust in and Methodological debates between positivists and inter- support for public institutions have focused on expla- pretivists have, however, long inhibited a productive nations of long-term trends in trust levels (e.g., Bovens discussion about the purpose and role of political & Wille, 2008; Citrin et al., 2014). In this respect, science (Al-Habil, 2011). Several authors have thus distrust in public institutions and a growing sense of been advocating a move away from research that is powerlessness among citizens appear to reflect a defi- primarily driven by extant theories and methods, cient democratic governance system (Ansell, 2011) that toward research framed around pressing political issues tends to generate substantial gaps between winners and and dilemmas in the real world (Buick, Blackman, losers (Dahlberg & Linde, 2016). The deficiencies of O’Flynn, O’Donnell, & West, 2016; Schram et al., democratic governance have been attributed to a lack 2013; Shapiro, 2005; Smith, 2002). of systematic leadership and participatory governance In response to these calls for rethinking the science Downloaded by [Eindhoven University of Technology] at 00:53 05 January 2018 as well as the limited scope and powers of participatory of public administration and politics, this article innovations (e.g., Ansell, 2011; Fung, 2015) explores whether and how public institutions can Despite the fact that decreasing levels of trust in learn from “circular design” experiments with organi- public institutions tend to reduce the political legiti- zational democracy and employee participation in the macy and stability of these institutions, the vast major- private sector (cf. Romme, 1999, 2004). A case study ity of political scientists attempts to describe and conducted at a Dutch municipality serves to explore explain these phenomena, rather than engaging in how circular design can be used to improve public actual experiments and efforts to change the (condi- policy development and decision-making. This article tions of the) system itself. Several scholars have been therefore responds to recent calls for a revitalization of advocating a fundamental rethink of the apolitical CONTACT A. Georges L. Romme [email protected] School of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, P. O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands. An earlier version of this article was presented at the CITIZENSHIP 3.0 Seminar, KNAW, Amsterdam, October 2014. The authors are grateful for the useful comments provided by participants. © 2017 A. Georges L. Romme, Jan Broekgaarden, Carien Huijzer, Annewiek Reijmer, and Rob A. I. van der Eyden. Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 247 political science in the service of political practice, by democracy (including The Netherlands). Moreover studying a deliberate effort to renew local democracy. common sense suggests even a 60% level of support This article is organized as follows. First, the theore- and trust is still far too low for any institution to tical background of this study is described and dis- function properly (cf. Bauer, Freitag, & Sciarini, 2013). cussed. A key observation here is that the void Accordingly, others have argued that the structurally between citizens and public institutions may currently low levels of support for politics and public institutions be the most fundamental challenge that Western can, at least partly, be attributed to the void or vacuum democracies are facing. Subsequently, the history and that exists between citizens and representative bodies main principles of the circular design approach are and public administration