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In current-day participatory processes, expressions like “citizen knowledge”, “user knowledge” or “ordinary knowledge” are overused. This article clarifies these expressions by analysing three epistemic sets that are applicable to the dynamics of participation: ordinary reason, citizen expertise and political knowledge. It explores the political implications of the investment in these specific forms of knowledge and contributes to the renewal of the classic opposition between elitist and “participatory” theories of democracy. Although the reduction of the knowledge of professional politicians to a more generic political knowledge is improbable, isn’t the dependence on citizen knowledge likely to help revitalize politics as a whole.

This article reflects on local participatory democracy, explaining its emergence in terms of the growing complexity of society and the need to bring decisions closer to the local contexts in which new social needs arise. Taking into account the abundant discourse on participation in the political agenda, which includes concepts of partnership, social networks, governance, etc., it explores the possibility of assessing the practical results of these methods of co-producing public policies. In order to respond to these questions, it is considered necessary to resort to both theoretical and empirical dimensions, emphasising in particular the potential distance between discourse and practice. In sociological terms, it is of interest to understand how conflicts and consensuses are processed in terms of the power relationships that permeate a society or a concrete situation, the positions on conciliation, how social resources are redistributed, and which groups and principles of social justice they favour. In the context of these dynamics, it is important to explain the ways in which collective action is constructed, clarifying the roles of the different actors involved and, in particular, public agents.

This article shows how a solidarity economy movement has arisen in different national and continental contexts. The diversity of practices embedded in local and international civil society networks should be underlined. Emerging in the last decades, this generation of associations and cooperatives, assuming political and economic dimensions, has extended the social economy and provided concrete proposals for another economy in a period of capitalist crisis. Thus, it has to be integrated in the research of a renewed economic model and public action.

Participatory democracy practices in France received a decisive boost with the Development Councils of the provinces (pays) and urban agglomerations (Voynet Law, 1999). The inclusion of citizens in the political life these structures have enabled has not, however, met expectations. Based on three studies of the Southern Arcachon basin and the urban agglomerations of Bordeaux and La Rochelle, this article explores the diverse make-up of the Development Councils, the role played by local councillors in appointing and controlling members, and the difficulties of including anonymous inhabitants in local government. Reference is also made to the predominance of individuals close to elected local councillors and above all to various types of specialist and administrative staff, who are accustomed to the logic of planning and political-administrative parlance. The monopoly over debate exerted by specialist discourse drives citizens away from the associational, cultural and Trades Union world of Development Councils. The final diagnosis, however, is not purely negative, since it points to a number of deliberative virtualities, to reconciling interests, to the opening up of local political activity and innovation-based political relations set in motion by the functioning of the Development Councils.

The geography of Participatory Budget (PB) experiences in Italy is a rapidly mutating one, against a backdrop which is beginning to find a “hard nucleus” of political innovation in the current treatment of economic-financial themes. The gradual re-positioning of Italian PBs must be viewed as part of a broader critical/formative process, which puts in question the “undiscussed sphere” of economic factors in today’s society and the “naturalness” with which many constraints are put in place and which have become embedded in local government. Against this background, the activity of the New Municipal Network becomes key in interconnecting the different experiences and the relation with other campaigns aiming to defend local government autonomy and its projective and innovative capacity.

The presence of civil society interlocutors in public action is stimulated by European norms which strengthen the role of “social partners” at the different echelons of governance. For the French regions, an important means of legitimation and effectiveness is achieved by the possibility of combining into their policies the expertise and social representativity of interest groups. The regional context, however, holds little appeal for civil society representatives. The latter, finding it difficult to reconcile positions within the territories and discouraged by the complexity of community programmes, elect to take traditional institutional routes, preferentially engaging with the State and the departments. On the other hand, and at territorial level, the regions are witnessing social partners turning rather to urban centres.

This article analyzes the public art event “Lisboa Capital do Nada” [Lisbon Capital of Nothing], which involved a series of projects of public intervention that took place in Lisbon in 2001. This project raises questions about the social role of art in the preservation of “authentic” ways of life, as well as about the role of the artist as witness of daily life in his/her attempt to regenerate urban spaces considered to be problematic and in helping to construct a social identity that identifies the people with the place. However, the mobility of artists, intellectuals, politicians and experts contrasts with the stationary condition of others, who are thus subjected to a local identity and are objectified by a touristic gaze. This form of cultural tourism maintains the asymmetries of mobility, reinforcing the power of those that have control over their own mobility and over the circulation of meanings. In attempting to substitute the fragmented and subjective experience of space by a disciplining and unifying, or coherent, representation, the concept of place as process is disregarded.

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article reviews the web site Observatório Internacional de Democracia Participativa, located at www.oidp.net.