Four rules for councils' democratisation work

The Democratic Society

Four rulesfor councils’ democratic engagement

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http://www.demsoc.org

One.Remember the di!erence between consumers and citizens



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They need di!erent sorts of engagement

Consumer Citizen

Recipient Participant

One-o! Ongoing

Individualist Collective

Managerial Political



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Not everyone sees the council as neutral

My LocalCouncil

For example, local politicians always carry their national party’s baggage



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Political issues = di"cult issues

You can’t always get to an agreed position when there are underlying philosophical di!erences



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Two.People understand local government less than you think they do.



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Don’t force people into your structures



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Focus on the citizen, not the process



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Don’t assume knowledge, with anyone

Who’s in charge of planning policy around

here, anyway ?



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Three.Work to expand the democratic space



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Don’t use the council website

Don’t use this When you can use these (and many others)



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Make online and o#ine support each other



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Remember that politics bores most people

Assume that people have ten minutes a month for

politics, not an hour or two every day



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Four.Real engagement means culture change and service transformation



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Few politicians, many citizens

For every one politician, councillor, senior civil servant or political journalist...

...there are 44,470 ordinary citizens.



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O"cers need to get out and engage

Even the best politicians have• little time• little understanding of detail• little knowledge of background



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Public speaking ≠ political speaking

Explaining the background to the new parking schemeon Nevskii Prospekt



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A cheering final word:Local government does culture change well

• Partnership working done

• Joint commissioning done

• Trusts & shared services done

• Real openness and engagement



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Four rules for councils' democratisation work