Ecologic Institute

The participation requirements (§14) of the EC Water Framework Directive (WFD) launched, for the first time, a broader discussion about participatory approaches in water management. Still, the demand for policies, which are oriented toward the public and public participation, is nothing new. Many forms of participation have been known and tested since the 70’s and 80’s. Most of them emerged from city and regional planning projects and discussions. Read more ...

The process of European integration has given rise to a new object of study – European society. Several old questions concerning citizenship, democracy, government and institutions must be raised anew, this time at the European level. These are not only academic issues, but also major political concerns at European and member state level. Read more ...

This Ecologic Brief gives an overview of the main results and policy implications of the HarmoniCOP project. HarmoniCOP provides a comprehensive knowledge base for public participation in water management. Centred around the concept of social learning, the project draws lessons from past approaches to public participation in EU Member States and gains insights from case studies conducted in nine European river basins. Read more ...

The United Nations (UN) are in a crisis not least because of their lack of democratic legitimacy: too many of the member countries are non-democratic, and internal procedures in the UN are unnecessarily closed to public debate and scrutiny. A panel of eminent experts led by Fernando Enrique Cardoso made proposals for reform. In a contribution to a book on the rule of international law in a globalised world, R. Andreas Kraemer assesses the panel's proposals. Read more ...