Lokala styrelser inom grund- och gymnasieskola: Brukarstyrelser och deltagardemokratiska möjligheter och utmaningar: en teoriprövande studie

Sammanfattning: The question of direct citizen participation in politics and administration is a contestable one. Its proponents claim that it has positive consequences even for the more "traditional", representative democracy, since participation leads to an increased political knowledge and increased political interest, and thus creates a revitalised democracy. Critical voices have however been raised to the validity of this claim. Critics have also pointed out direct participation as problematic, because it leads to problems of political inequality: a difference of political influence between ? on the one hand, the citizens participating directly and those that restrict their political participation to voting, and ? on the one the other hand ? between the institutions, for example schools, that employ, and don?t employ this method of direct citizen influence. In this essay, these two points of criticisms are tested in the context of user-boards in elementary and secondary schools. Three user-boards in one municipality are compared. The method used is qualitative interviews with politicians, officials as well as parents and students being active in the user-boards. The theoretical problems of political equality are proven non-existent. A participatory democratic evolution of the participants in the boards, is taking place. However, it is, in the majority of the cases, restricted to an increased political interest in school-questions.