Governance. A citizen's perspective

This chapter aims at presenting a “citizens’-side approach” to governance issues, a topic that should be considered of the highest importance but is strangely forgotten or underestimated by scholars, politicians and policy makers. It is a matter of fact that governance studies are concentrated on the state’s perspective of governance rather than that of the citizens. But in doing so one risks losing sight of what, in a sense, is the most important thing. To this end, some theoretical and methodological framework elements will be introduced. Then the features of governance from the citizens’ point of view will be illustrated using some concrete examples. Finally, a “memo” for public administration seeking partnerships with citizens’ organisations will be presented.