Citizens today are awash in opportunities to contribute to, and shape, public debate and policy. Yet people feel that their voices are not being heard. The 2024 OECD Trust Survey shows that over half (53%) believe that the political system does not allow people like them to have a say.
At the same time, policymakers are increasingly faced with complex policy issues that require careful trade-offs between the long and short term, across different groups in society today and future generations to come. Meaningful citizen participation in policymaking is now critical.
This report draws upon the OECD’s extensive and longstanding work on citizen participation in the policy cycle, across a wide range of policy areas. It focuses on one of the five governance challenges identified under the OECD’s Reinforcing Democracy Initiative, that of “Ensuring representation, participation and openness in public life” (Pillar 2). It builds upon the 2022 Ministerial Declaration on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy, the 2024 Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy held in Milan, Italy (21-22 October 2024) and the latest data from the 2024 OECD Trust Survey.
The report was prepared by the OECD Directorate for Public Governance (GOV), under the leadership of Elsa Pilichowski, Director. Under the guidance of Gillian Dorner, Deputy Director, the report was drafted and edited by Joanne Caddy. Part I of the report benefitted greatly from discussions with, and contributions from, colleagues from across the Directorate for Public Governance including (in alphabetical order): Robert Addison, Moritz Ader, Erika Bozzay, Monica Brezzi, Giulia Cibrario, Deniz Devrim, Mia Drazilova, Pietro Gagliardi, David Goessmann, Marianna Karttunen, Sarah Kups, Craig Matasick, Mauricio Mejia Galvan, Claire McEvoy, Bruno Monteiro, Giulia Morando, Alberto Morales, Delphine Moretti, Carissa Munro, Scherie Nicol, Ollin Pérez Raynaud, Mariana Prats, Camila Saffirio, Carlos Santiso, and Chiara Varazzani. Colleagues from other OECD directorates also contributed important insights, including: Aziza Akhmouch, Dorothée Allain-Dupré, Betty-Ann Bryce, Soo-Jin Kim, Maria Varinia Michalun, Camille Viros (OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities), Hannah Borhan, Lucie Cerna, Marco Paccagnella, Claudia Tamassia (OECD Directorate for Education and Skills), Killian Raiser (Environment Directorate) and Neil Martin (Centre on Well-Being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity). Andrea Uhrhammer, Thibaut Gigou, Justin Kavanagh and Sara Sreberny-Mohammadi provided valuable advice and support for communications. Angela Stuart provided essential editorial assistance and Deborah Fernandez ensured liaison with the Public Governance Committee.
Sincere thanks are also extended to the invited authors who generously contributed their perspectives in Part II of the report: Joy Aceron, Paulina Ibarra, Anna-Kaisa Ikkonen, Veronica Nilsson, Ricardo Rio, Hanni Rosenbaum, Massimiliano Tarozzi, Laurence Tubiana, Emily White and Rich Wilson. These articles should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the authors.
This report was shared with members of the OECD Working Group on Open Government in February 2025. It was approved and declassified by the Public Governance Committee on 21 March 2025 and prepared for publication by the Secretariat. For more information on the OECD Reinforcing Democracy Initiative see www.oecd.org/governance/reinforcing-democracy.