Governing citizen engagement
A discourse studies perspective
This chapter sets out to explore tensions between bottom-up and top-down processes
from a governmentality perspective. Using a discourse studies approach,
we investigate how forms of public participation in a local climate mitigation
project can be viewed as an instance of governmentality in the sense of how
the conduct of groups and individuals is influenced by other forces and how
groups and individuals influence the conduct of others through participation
and involvement. This implies that governmentality is analysed as emerging in
concrete, situated practices. Simultaneously, we investigate how a governmentality
approach may enrich our understanding of public participation, dialogue
and involvement, especially on the complex issue of sustainability and climate
change mitigation.