Civic Participation in the Scottish Parliament Committees

We assess how far the committees of the Scottish Parliament have succeeded in engaging the public in their work, in line with the parliament's founding principles. We suggest that progress has been made, but argue that factors such as party politics and continuing support for traditional representative democratic norms have limited moves towards more participatory democracy. Evidence also suggests that engagement with politically marginalized groups has been limited and that, for this to change, issues of social inequality must be addressed.