Rethinking EU citizen participation mechanisms as tools for strengthening democratic resilience

The growing debate on the concept of democratic resilience has already generated a number of studies which look into the ability of democratic political systems, institutions, actors and citizens to prevent or react to various external and internal challenges. Citizens’ attitudes and behaviours are generally considered to be particularly relevant for democratic resilience. In past years, citizens’ trust in core democratic institutions has been declining in many EU member states. It is still unclear to what extent the many efforts invested in developing new tools of participatory and deliberative democracy at the EU level can contribute to changes in citizens' attitudes. This paper seeks to discuss the conditions under which the use of various EU-level citizen participation tools can contribute to changes in citizens’ attitudes and behaviours. Drawing on the results of the surveys among Croatian students who participated in European citizen initiatives, EC public consultations on draft policies and activities of the Conference of the Future of Europe, the paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the transformational potential of citizen participation mechanisms as essential components of strengthening societal, democratic resilience to illiberal, autocratic challenges.