Henrik Bang explores the question what it takes to connect democracy and good governance from local to global level. Democracy on the input side is about consensual decision-making, while good governance on the output side is about political action. In many cases, both are mistakenly mixed. He elaborates his argument by using the EU as an example. The EU has a democratic deficit on the input side, but earned capacities for good governance on the output side.

According to Louis Klein, we live in a fairly developed democracy. Is this the end of history or is it a challenge to proceed and improve from here on? Developed democracies do not have their own improvement on the agenda. He recommends starting with the little things. Doing so, we would continuously improve what we have accomplished so as to achieve outcomes we cannot think of at the moment.

Various national policy processes affect local communities. The question is how can local stakeholders be included in these processes? Based on systems thinking, Raul Espejo offers principles and recommended practices for such participation.

Stephen Aldridge, Acting Director of the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit of the Cabinet Office, illustrates how the unit contributes to the continuous improvement of policies in the UK. The strategy unit provides strategic policy advice to the prime minister and his office.