When the UK Government launched the ‘Together We Can’ programme in 2003, it was the first programme of its kind to review findings on citizen empowerment initiatives from around the world, and systematically promote their application to policy and project development across the country. Being in charge of the programme enabled me to examine closely what worked well and what did not in improving collaboration between citizens and state bodies at the national and local levels. It also meant that I would come to know many of the foremost academics and policy makers in this vital field.

Alas, despite the programme's impact on increasing the use and benefits of diverse forms of democratic engagement, a change of government brought the programme to an end in 2010. Since then, while the lessons from ‘Together We Can’ and other empowerment research have largely gone unheeded, the gap between state and citizens has inexorably widened.

There is now a palpable sense that political alienation has hit crisis point. In the UK, the US, and many other democracies, the civic rift is undermining the rule of law, and ruthlessly exploited by extremist politicians. Instead of allowing this to continue, those of us with the relevant knowledge and experience must do our part to highlight what should be done to reconnect the public with public institutions.

Following an event I convened at the University of Cambridge on cooperative problem solving in the public realm, I was heartened by the interest and support expressed for developing an up-to-date guide to the challenges posed by democratic disengagement, and how they could be most effectively tackled. In putting together Whose Government Is It? The renewal of state-citizen cooperation, I have been able to call on leading experts and practitioners who have, between them, reviewed, scrutinised and experimented with just about every type of deliberative and participatory decision making.

You will see from the notes on our contributors their impressive credentials. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them, both for finding time to write their respective chapters, and for their longstanding commitment to exploring different approaches to getting governments and citizens to work together in defining and pursuing the public good. Because of them, we know far more about why and how governments should change the way they involve citizens as real partners in shaping public outcomes.