ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with an outline of the evolution of the concept of 'citizen and user participation', and explores the main mechanisms which have been used in the United Kingdom (UK) in recent years to implement it. It considers some of evidence as to what results have been achieved by these mechanisms to date, and concludes with consideration of citizen and user co-production, which is becoming a vogue concept and may represent the next phase of 'participation'. The conceptual roots of citizen involvement in public affairs clearly derives from classical models of participatory democracy, while the most powerful model of user participation comes from market research in market capitalism. The rhetoric of public service 'modernisation' and public service improvement in the UK frequently conflates very different kinds of public participation. Participation can include a range of different stakeholder groups, ranging from actual service users, to potential service users, to taxpayers, to special interest groups and, the public as a whole.
