Prof Daniel Berliner

This course is available on the Master of Public Policy, MSc in Development Management (Political Economy), MSc in Development Studies, MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics), MSc in Political Science (Global Politics), MSc in Political Science (Political Behaviour), MSc in Political Science (Political Science and Political Economy) and MSc in Public Policy and Administration. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

How to apply: To apply for a place on this course, please submit a short statement of no more than 200 words via LfY. Your statement should outline your reasons for applying and explain how the course will support your academic and/or career goals. If applicable, you should also demonstrate how you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide. If the course is compulsory for your programme, no written statement is required.

Priority for places on Government (GV) courses will be given first to students for whom the course is compulsory. Where applicable, priority will then be given to students on the Department of Government programmes listed in the ‘Availability’ section of the course guide, followed by students on other programmes listed in that section. Students on all other programmes will be considered next, where a course is available as an outside option. You should ensure that you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide before applying. Places on capped courses cannot be guaranteed. Where a course is oversubscribed, places will be allocated based on programme priority and the written statement.

Deadline for applications: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 25 September 2026. You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 28 September 2026. Any places remaining after this date will be allocated based on priority and written statement - up until course selection closes.

For queries contact: gov.msc@lse.ac.uk.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically very high.

Participatory governance – involving ordinary people in policy making and implementation – is increasingly being adopted around the world and across many different policy areas. This includes initiatives like consultations, coproduction, petitions, policy crowdsourcing, participatory budgeting, complaints mechanisms, service delivery reporting, “civic tech” platforms, and citizen assemblies. These forms of participatory governance also vary in important ways, including the deliberativeness of interactions, the mode of participant selection, the role of technology, and the nature of linkage with public authority. While many scholars and policymakers hail the potential for public participation to lead to more effective, representative, and legitimate governance, others raise important concerns such as risks of exacerbating inequalities, limited accountability, or serving as mere “window-dressing,” among others. 

This course examines participatory governance in theory and practice, with a global scope covering applications in both “developed” and “developing” countries as well as at a global level. It surveys theories of participatory and deliberative democracy, and their relationships with representative democracy, as well as themes of coproduction, collaboration, and social accountability; and their applications to applied policy cases and lessons for policymakers. The course also examines key cross-cutting questions, such as who participates and why, the possibilities of meaningful deliberation, relationships with political authority, and applications of information technologies and artificial intelligence. The course also incorporates recent empirical research on the impacts of participatory and deliberative governance and on the representativeness of participation in different settings. Students will have opportunities to apply these concepts and themes to specific case studies in their course essay.

30 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Essay (1000 words) in Autumn Term Week 11.

Students will have the option to produce one formative essay of 1,000 words, due by the end of Week 11 in the AT.

Fung, Archon, and Erik Olin Wright. 2001. “Deepening democracy: Innovations in empowered participatory governance.” Politics & Society 29(1): 5-41.

OECD. (2020). Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions: Catching the Deliberative Wave. OECD Publishing, Paris.

Peixoto, Tiago, and Micah L. Sifry. (2017). Civic Tech in the Global South: Assessing Technology for the Public Good. World Bank.

Nabatchi, Tina, Alessandro Sancino, and Mariafrancesca Sicilia. (2017). "Varieties of Participation in Public Services: The Who, When, and What of Coproduction." Public Administration Review. 77(5): 766-776.

Boswell, John, Rikki Dean, and Graham Smith. (2023). "Integrating citizen deliberation into climate governance: Lessons on robust design from six climate assemblies." Public Administration. 101(1): 182-200.

Landemore, Hélène, and Scott E. Page. (2015). "Deliberation and disagreement: Problem solving, prediction, and positive dissensus." Politics, Philosophy & Economics. 14(3): 229-254.

Gonzalez, Yanilda, and Lindsay Mayka. (2023). "Policing, Democratic Participation, and the Reproduction of Asymmetric Citizenship." American Political Science Review. 117(1): 263-279.

Parthasarathy, Ramya, Vijayendra Rao and Nethra Palaniswamy. (2019). "Deliberative Democracy in an Unequal World: A Text-as-Data Study of South India's Village Assemblies." American Political Science Review. 113(3): 623-640.

He, Baogang, and Mark E. Warren. (2011). "Authoritarian deliberation: The deliberative turn in Chinese political development." Perspectives on Politics. 9(2): 269-289.

Wampler, Brian, Stephanie McNulty, and Michael Touchton. (2021). Participatory budgeting in global perspective. Oxford University Press.

Essay (100%, 4000 words) in Winter Term Week 1.