Christopher Ansell

This article aims to initiate a conversation about the democratic quality of co-creation. There is growing interest in co-creation as a tool for mobilizing societal resources, enhancing creative problem-solving, and building broad-based ownership for public solutions. While researchers have focused on the contribution of co-creation to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public governance, few researchers have discussed the democratic quality of co-creation. This lacuna is filled by exploring the democratic contribution of co-creation through a comparison with well-known forms of democracy. The claim is that the democratic quality of co-creation lies in its ability to empower lay actors to take part in cross-boundary collaboration that may lead to creative problem-solving and to the exercise of a shared power based on joint agreements about innovative public value outcomes. The article is mainly theoretical and engaged in prospective analysis but also draws on empirical examples to illustrate the theoretical points.