The Participation of Senior Citizens in Policy-Making: Patterning Initiatives in Europe

Roberto Falanga, Andreas Cebulla, Andrea Principi and Marco Socci
Additional contact information
Roberto Falanga: Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600-189 Lisbon, Portugal
Andreas Cebulla: Australian Industrial Transformation Institute, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
Andrea Principi: Centre for Socio-Economic Research on Aging, IRCCS INRCA—National Institute of Health and Science on Aging, 60124 Ancona, Italy
Marco Socci: Centre for Socio-Economic Research on Aging, IRCCS INRCA—National Institute of Health and Science on Aging, 60124 Ancona, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 18, issue 1, 1-21

Abstract: Worldwide, active aging policy calls for greater participation of senior citizens in the social, economic, and political realms. Despite emerging evidence of initiatives engaging senior citizens in social activities, little is known about the use of participatory approaches in the design and/or implementation of policies that matter to older citizens. This article identifies initiatives facilitating the civic participation of older people in policy-making in European Union member and associate states, drawing on a review of the literature, consultation of national policy experts, and exemplary case studies. Four main patterns of senior civic participation are identified: adopting consultative or co-decisional participatory approaches in policy design or policy implementation. The four are represented to varying degrees at different geographical levels (national, regional, local), with different actor configurations (appointed, elected/nominated, corporate representation), and with varying degree of institutionalization (temporary/permanent). Case studies illustrate approaches taken to enhance the quality and effectiveness of public services for senior citizens. Future research should strengthen this line of enquiry to cast further light on conditions facilitating the civic participation of senior citizens.

Keywords: citizen participation; policy-making; senior citizens; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/34/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/34/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2020:i:1:p:34-:d:466818

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().