The Department of Political Economy, King’s College, London and the Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association are pleased to present the launch of the new book ‘Rethinking Civic Participation in Theory and Practice’, published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Written by Dr Rod Dacombe, Lecturer in Politics and Vice Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy at KCL, this book addresses one of the most significant issues in modern politics: the persistently low levels of democratic participation found in deprived areas.

Challenging the mainstream views on how and why citizens engage in democracy, the book argues that participation needs to be understood in context, and that abstract notions of the motivation of people living in deprived areas can be unhelpful and misleading. Drawing on an in-depth study of the history and development of democratic life in the Blackbird Leys area of Oxford, the book identifies a number of implications for both democratic theory and practice which will be of interest to scholars, policy makers and anyone who cares about the state of democracy.

The launch will be introduced by Dr Anneliese Dodds MP, Shadow Minister for the Treasury and Member of Parliament for Oxford East (the setting for the empirical work in the book).

Dr Dacombe will then discuss the book, its origins, development and implications.

A response will be provided by Professor Sarah Birch, Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Economy at KCL.

Drinks and nibbles will be provided throughout the evening. A limited number of copies of the book will be available for sale at a discounted price to those attending the event.