Does the public make the law?

This paper proposes an analysis of the national debate on water in order to assess the effects of public involvement on the legislative process. It deals with the ability of a political regulation to transform a neo-corporatist configuration of public action. Since the call for citizens' participation is a tactical issue as well as a democratic one, how do the main stakeholders of the water policy react to this mobilization? To what extent can the public, constructed by a plurality of scenes and methods, influence the legislative process