Participatory democracy at grass roots level is hugely complex, especially in a diverse society. This book seeks to examine this issue in the context of children's education, identifying the key factors that affect parents' participation and what their role should be.

Enabling Participation provides a key reference work for health and education practitioners who wish to optimise outcomes for children, young people and families where there is an individual with a childhood onset neurodisability. By focusing on participation -- what is it, how to measure it and how to influence it – the book aims to support professionals to utilise the most recent developments in the field. Written in five parts, the book provides the reader with knowledge about the concept of participation; detailed understanding of how varying contexts influence participation outcomes; how to measure participation as an outcome and as a process; how to intervene to promote participation outcomes; and future directions and challenges. Chapters provide diverse examples of evidence-based practices and are enriched by scenarios and vignettes to engage and challenge the reader to consider how participation in meaningful activities might be optimised for individuals and their families. The book’s practical examples aim to facilitate knowledge transfer, clinical application and service planning for the future.

In Denmark, Finland and Sweden the evolution of administrative law, including social welfare law, has been marked by a shift towards a stronger protection of the recipient's individual rights. The adoption of activation policies targeting recipients of social assistance has highlighted the tensions between decision-making concerning the implementation of these policies and the legislative efforts to promote the realisation of individual rights in the field of social welfare. An examination of the legislation in question and its implementation conditions shows that the realisation of individual rights is subordinated to the pursuit of organisational and other objectives. The findings of the study are used to formulate proposals for the promotion of individual rights based on the Nordic egalitarian model of citizenship. This critical assessment of activation policies should be of broad international appeal. It will be of interest to researchers in social policy, as well as those concerned with protection of rights.

The decline of citizen involvement affects two key elements of democratic government: elections and political parties. Activating the Citizen examines the reasons underlying citizen withdrawal and explores and assesses innovative approaches on both sides of the Atlantic to try to counter these phenomena.

The activation of social welfare recipients has been, and still is, a central issue in the development of social and employment policies in Europe. This ambitious book explores the employment effectiveness of minimum income schemes, and provides the first comprehensive examination of its dependency on how the rights and obligations of the recipients are defined. The book argues that the right to a minimum income can only be adequately justified with reference to the individual's right to personal development. Combining political theory and policy analysis, the author draws on evidence from eight different European countries to illustrate how it is possible to combine higher levels of employment effectiveness with the respect for recipients' right to personal development. Exploring the balance between fairness and effectiveness in the activation of minimum income recipients and acknowledging that individuals have both rights and obligations, this book will provide a useful reference tool to students, researchers and policy-makers with an interest in the work versus welfare nexus.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Participation, ePart 2016, held in Guimarães, Portugal, in September 5-8, 2016. The 14 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 31 submissions. The papers reflect completed multi-disciplinary research ranging from policy analysis and conceptual modeling to programming and visualization of simulation models. They are organized in four topical threads: theoretical foundations; critical reflections; implementations; policy formulation and modeling.