Bürgerbeteiligung in Deutschland – Wer beteiligt sich wofür mit welchen Auswirkungen?

Citizen participation can be found in almost all areas of public life. Often, dissatisfaction with public decisions and disenchantment with politics are the reasons why citizens become involved outside of working life. Little is known about its effects and structure. Empirical studies are often limited to individual case analyses. A broader data base using statistical econometric methods is necessary to come to more generalizable statements. What type of person is active and involved in matters beyond the private sphere? To what extent he is influenced in his attitude and his behaviour. Citizens’ councils are a comparatively newly developed instrument for citizen participation, on which a lot of information is still missing from a statistical point of view. Randomised selection procedures should help to ensure that policy recommendations and policy decisions are more closely aligned with the will of the population. What personal characteristics are typical of citizens’ councillors? Does the distribution of these characteristics correspond to that in the population as a whole?

The empirical study shows that standard demographic characteristics can only explain participation in citizens’ initiatives to a limited extent and that there is a reciprocal relationship with participation in citizens’ initiatives. Of additional importance are Big 5 characteristics and judgements about what is perceived as fair. Life satisfaction and trust in politics manifest themselves differently in people with and without experience in the area of citizens’ initiatives. Overall, the importance of civic participation is lower than that of other altruistically orientated activities.