For many are called, but few are chosen - Citizen Participation in Lund Municipality

Abstract: On all levels of government, politicians try to find solutions to our environmental problems. Municipalities in countries create action plans according to the Agenda 21, approved in 1992. This agenda encouraged the involvement of citizens from below and many took that to their hearts. Lund municipality in Sweden is one of them. The theory used in this thesis is deliberative democracy. It is applied through studying citizen participation in the policy process leading up to the municipality’s latest environmental document, LundaEko. Through in-depth interviews I could draw the conclusion that citizen participation was not a big part of the process. The participation did not meet the conditions for a fully deliberative process. It consequently did not influence the decisions in a significant manner. The municipality pursued legitimacy in the process, but whether they gained it is not entirely studied. The efficiency was influenced by disagreements among the politicians rather than by the participation of citizens. To conclude, we need further discussions about the relevance of citizen participation, according to deliberative democracy, in today’s democratic society.