Medborgarna och demokratin. En fallstudie om medborgardeltagande och medborgarinflytande i Helsingborg utifrån ett deltagardemokratiskt perspektiv
Political inclusionDemocracyPolitical equalityParticipationInfluencePolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
People are given better opportunities to participate in polity today. Democratic equality entails that all individuals are equal and therefore they should be included in the process of making the decisions. How can participation be defined and does it mean that having the possibility to participate means that people can influence the process of making the decisions in polity process?This paper focuses on participation and influence in polity and examine the relationship between having the possibility to participate and having the possibility to actually influence polity process on more local level. Therefore I have been examining the citizens? participation and influence in Helsingborg which is my case study. My conclusions drawn from the study is that there is a clear distinction between having the opportunity to participate in polity process and having the influence in the polity process. People can participate but it does not actually mean that they have the real power to exert the influence in decision making process.Keywords: democracy, political inclusion, political equality, participation and influence.