13 Colum. J. Eur. L. 595 (2007)
Stijn Smismans. Reader, School of Law, University of Cardiff.
With its focus on decentralized participation, new governance may appear as strengthening active citizenship. It may, therefore, provide a solution for European citizenship that has, until now, mainly been defined as a rights-based status. Whilst new governance may contribute to the participatory dimension of citizenship, it may be at odds with the rights and the identity dimension of the concept. This article shows the difficulties of linking the idea of participatory governance to the concept of European citizenship. It subsequently analyzes how new governance relates to the three constitutive elements of citizenship: participation, rights and belonging.
