The State of Citizen Participation in America

The State of Citizen Participation in America PDF Author: Kaifeng Yang
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617358363
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 489

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Book Description
This book provides a state-of-the-art assessment of citizen participation practice and research in the United States. With contributions from a stellar group of scholars, it provides readers an overview of a field at the heart of democratic governance. Individual chapters trace shifts in participation philosophy and policy, examine trends at different government levels, analyze technology/participation interactions, identify the participation experiences of minority populations, and explore the impact of voluntary organizations on this topic. A five-chapter section illustrates innovative cases. Another section explores the role of various methodologies in advancing participation research. The scope, depth, and timeliness of the coverage fills two voids in the public administration literature. First, the book provides a unique collection of articles for graduate courses in citizen participation and democratic governance. The volume also offers an excellent compendium for researchers who are at the frontline of participation research and practice.

The State of Citizen Participation in America

The State of Citizen Participation in America PDF Author: Kaifeng Yang
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617358363
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 489

Get Book

Book Description
This book provides a state-of-the-art assessment of citizen participation practice and research in the United States. With contributions from a stellar group of scholars, it provides readers an overview of a field at the heart of democratic governance. Individual chapters trace shifts in participation philosophy and policy, examine trends at different government levels, analyze technology/participation interactions, identify the participation experiences of minority populations, and explore the impact of voluntary organizations on this topic. A five-chapter section illustrates innovative cases. Another section explores the role of various methodologies in advancing participation research. The scope, depth, and timeliness of the coverage fills two voids in the public administration literature. First, the book provides a unique collection of articles for graduate courses in citizen participation and democratic governance. The volume also offers an excellent compendium for researchers who are at the frontline of participation research and practice.

The Age of Direct Citizen Participation

The Age of Direct Citizen Participation PDF Author: Nancy C. Roberts
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317458818
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
Citizen involvement is considered the cornerstone of democratic theory and practice. Citizens today have the knowledge and ability to participate more fully in the political, technical, and administrative decisions that affect them. On the other hand, direct citizen participation is often viewed with skepticism, even wariness. Many argue that citizens do not have the time, preparation, or interest to be directly involved in public affairs, and suggest instead that representative democracy, or indirect citizen participation, is the most effective form of government. Some of the very best writings on this key topic - which is at the root of the entire "reinventing government" movement - can be found in the journals that ASPA publishes or sponsors. In this collection Nancy Roberts has brought together the emerging classics on the ongoing debate over citizen involvement. Her detailed introductory essay and section openers frame the key issues, provide historical context, and fill in any gaps not directly covered by the articles. More than just an anthology, "The Age of Direct Citizen Participation" provides a unique and useful framework for understanding this important subject. It is an ideal resource for any Public Administration course involving citizen engagement and performance management.

Spaces for Change?

Spaces for Change? PDF Author: Andrea Cornwall
Publisher: Zed Books
ISBN: 9781842775530
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This book provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the developments which have brought about a new, global wave of inclusiveness and democracy. From Brazil to Bangladesh, a new form of participatory politics is springing up. Featuring contributions detailing how such movements have worked in Latin America, Europe and Africa, the book analyzes the impact they have had on the democratic process. By opening up the political sphere in this way, the authors contend, these grassroots movements truly have created "spaces for change."

Citizen Participation in the Age of Contracting

Citizen Participation in the Age of Contracting PDF Author: Anna A. Amirkhanyan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351379267
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
Citizen Participation in the Age of Contracting is based on a simple premise: in democracies, power originates with citizens. While citizen participation in government remains a central tenet of democracy, public service delivery structures are considerably more complex today than they were fifty years ago. Today, governments contract with private organizations to deliver a wide array of services. Yet, we know very little about how citizens influence government decisions and policies in the "hollow state." Based on nearly 100 interviews with public and private managers, our findings about the state of citizen participation in contract governance are somewhat disheartening. Public and private organizations engaged citizens in a number of ways. However, most of their efforts failed to shift the power structure in communities and did not give citizens a chance to fundamentally shape local priorities and programs. Instead, elected officials and professional staff largely maintained control over significant policy and administrative decisions. Widespread, but narrow in their forms and impact, the participation practices we uncovered did not live up to the ideals of democracy and self-governance. Citizen Participation in the Age of Contracting is suitable for those who study public administration, as well as in other closely related fields such as nonprofit management and organizational behavior.

The Participating Citizen

The Participating Citizen PDF Author: Michael D. Barber
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791484785
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Winner of the2007 Edward Goodwin Ballard Book Prize in Phenomenology presented by the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology with interest from a fund raised from Professor Ballard's family, students, and friends Vienna-born philosopher and social scientist Alfred Schutz (1899–1959) is primarily responsible for applying to the social sciences the resources of phenomenology, the prominent philosophical movement begun by Edmund Husserl in the early twentieth century. Drawing on previously unavailable letters, this biography depicts Schutz's childhood, adolescence, first visit to the United States, struggle to secure asylum for family and friends after the Austrian Anschluss, family and business life, and connections with phenomenologists worldwide, the New School for Social Research, and close friends. As a philosophical biography, it examines the ethical dimensions of his philosophical work, including its resistance to ethical theory, and shows how during the civil rights movement he articulated a standard for assessing democracy in terms of ability to facilitate individual citizen participation.

Fairness and Competence in Citizen Participation

Fairness and Competence in Citizen Participation PDF Author: Ortwin Renn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401101310
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Ortwin Renn Thomas Wehler Peter Wiedemann In late July of 1992 the small and remote mountain resort of Morschach in the Swiss Alps became a lively place of discussion, debate, and discourse. Over a three-day period twenty-two analysts and practitioners of public participation from the United States and Europe came together to address one of the most pressing issues in contemporary environmental politics: How can environmental policies be designed in a way that achieves both effective protection of nature and an adequate representation of public values? In other words, how can we make the environmental decision process competent and fair? All the invited scholars from academia, international research institutes, and governmental agencies agreed on one fundamental principle: For environmental policies to be effective and legitimate, we need to involve the people who are or will be affected by the outcomes of these policies. There is no technocratic solution to this problem. Without public involvement, environmental policies are doomed to fail. The workshop was preceded by a joint effort by the three editors to develop a framework for evaluating different models of public participation in the environmental policy arena. During a preliminary review of the literature we made four major observations. These came to serve as the primary motivation for this book. First, the last decade has witnessed only a fair amount of interest within the sociological or political science communities in issues of public participation.

Mobilizing for Democracy

Mobilizing for Democracy PDF Author: Vera Schatten Coelho
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1848139152
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Mobilizing for Democracy is an in-depth study into how ordinary citizens and their organizations mobilize to deepen democracy. Featuring a collection of new empirical case studies from Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, this important new book illustrates how forms of political mobilization, such as protests, social participation, activism, litigation and lobbying, engage with the formal institutions of representative democracy in ways that are core to the development of democratic politics. No other volume has brought together examples from such a broad Southern spectrum and covering such a diversity of actors: rural and urban dwellers, transnational activists, religious groups, politicians and social leaders. The cases illuminate the crucial contribution that citizen mobilization makes to democratization and the building of state institutions, and reflect the uneasy relationship between citizens and the institutions that are designed to foster their political participation.

Citizen Participation in Planning

Citizen Participation in Planning PDF Author: M. Fagence
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 1483294544
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
The author's aim has been to draw together the threads of political and social science and of sub-specialisms within those broad areas of study and to interpret them in the context of urban and regional planning. Consideration is given to various interpretations of decision making in a democracy, to 'representation' and the public interest, to the opportunities for citizen participation in the planning process, to the range of potential participants, their motivation and competence, to the means which may be employed to secure different levels of citizen involvement; and to the impediments to meaningful participation. Therefore this book will contribute to the closing of the existing gap between theory and practice by drawing together a diversity of themes from political science, philosophy and psychology, community theory and regional science, rendering them comprehensible in the context of planning

How Patronal Networks Shape Opportunities for Local Citizen Participation in a Hybrid Regime

How Patronal Networks Shape Opportunities for Local Citizen Participation in a Hybrid Regime PDF Author: Oleksandra Keudel
Publisher: Ibidem Press
ISBN: 9783838216713
Category : Municipal government
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Oleksandra Keudel proposes a novel explanation for why some local governments in hybrid regimes enable citizen participation while others restrict it. She argues that mechanisms for citizen participation are by-products of political dynamics of informal business-political (patronal) networks that seek domination over local governments. Against the backdrop of either competition or coordination between patronal networks in their localities, municipal leaders cherry-pick citizen participation mechanisms as a tactic to sustain their own access to resources and functions of local governments. This argument is based on an in-depth comparative analysis of patronal network arrangements and the adoption of citizen participation mechanisms in five urban municipalities in Ukraine during 2015-2019: Chernivtsi, Kharkiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Lviv, and Odesa. Fifty-seven interviews with citizen participation experts, local politicians and officials, representatives of civil society and the media, as well as utilization of secondary analytical sources, official government data, and media reports provide a rich basis for an investigation of context-specific choices of municipal leaders that result in varying mechanisms for citizen participation.

Handbook of Research on Citizen Engagement and Public Participation in the Era of New Media

Handbook of Research on Citizen Engagement and Public Participation in the Era of New Media PDF Author: Adria, Marco
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1522510826
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 503

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Book Description
New media forums have created a unique opportunity for citizens to participate in a variety of social and political contexts. As new social technologies are being utilized in a variety of ways, the public is able to interact more effectively in activities within their communities. The Handbook of Research on Citizen Engagement and Public Participation in the Era of New Media addresses opportunities and challenges in the theory and practice of public involvement in social media. Highlighting various communication modes and best practices being utilized in citizen-involvement activities, this book is a critical reference source for professionals, consultants, university teachers, practitioners, community organizers, government administrators, citizens, and activists.