Running on two legs : which characteristics do projects of participatory democracy need to influence the decisionmaking within representative democracy in Dutch local government?

Almost all municipalities in the Netherlands use nowadays the knowledge and commitment of citizens. This participation of citizens goes from telling what their opinions are about certain policy making to the most profound variant, the transfer of budgets and responsibilities to citizens. In literature, all these forms of participation are described in detail but a real research of the factors of success and failure within these various projects is lacking. The goal of this research is to get more clarity about these factors. On the basis of ten evaluation studies of Dutch lokal Courts of Auditors involving civic participation in policy development, this study will provide an overview of how certain characteristics can affect the results of the participation.