Overview: deliberate democracy and citizen empowerment

This article gives an overview of deliberative democracy and citizen empowerment. It describes the reasons for the recent interest in Deliberative and Inclusionary Processes (DIPs). These are given as; political changes; a lack of trust in professional expertise and science; high levels of uncertainty and complexity (e.g. in the realm of the environment and technology) that are an integral part of living in a modern world and the notions of human rights, social justice and empowerment. It then details the main issues emerging from DIPs that are discussed in the remaining articles within PLA notes No. 40 and ends with a brief description of some of the challenges DIPs might face.