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Active citizenship in the administrative state /
Abstract
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-213). Abstract. Vita. Photocopy.
... Within the field of public administration there are countless studies related to citizen participation, citizen engagement, and public participation. Zhang and Yang (2009), Thomas (1990), Denhardt and Denhardt (2000), Stivers (1990), and Adams (2004) represent just a selection. Despite the exhaustive number of studies in this area, few (Gastil & Weiser, 2006;Adams, 2004;Halvorsen, 2003;Schachter & Liu, 2005) have directly sought input from community residents or citizen groups. ...
... A shift in the organizational structure of government transforms government/citizen relationships (Stivers, 1990). The presentation of the archaic citystate or polis model combines citizen engagement and the administration of politics, thereby forming ideal participation. ...
... Scholars in the fields of public administration, urban planning, political science, and education, among others, continue to study the importance of involvement. Stivers (1990) and Bingham et al. (2005) present exemplary, holistic models of effective and authentic participation. The question of the willingness of administrators to make the change necessary to create such models remains unanswered. ...
... Administration of public policies is considered a professional pursuit requiring technical expertise to be executed in an efficient and effective manner. In fact, bureaucracy is thought to derive its legitimacy as a policymaker from its expertise (Dahl 1989;Stivers 1990). In contrast, the public lacks specialized knowledge or policy expertise. ...
... According to a second, competing perspective, public participation could lead to better policy and implementation decisions and thus it can be associated with a greater attainment of public programs' goals (Beierle and Cayford 2002, Fagotto and Fung 2009, Fung 2004Roberts 1997;Sirianni 2009;Stivers 1990). Scholars differentiate among multiple levels of normative and instrumental benefits that public participation in administrative decision making can bring to citizens, communities, organizations, policy, and governance. ...
... As argued above, participation is associated with knowledge sharing. Citizens often possess local knowledge and can propose innovative solutions that would lead to better resource allocation decisions (Beierle andCayford 2002, Fung 2004;Moynihan 2003;Sirianni 2009;Stivers 1990), and thus better effectiveness. In addition, citizen input allows public officials to better understand public priorities and reduce wasteful projects, which in turn leads to better efficiency. ...
Public participation in administrative decision making has been widely advocated by both theorists and practitioners of public
administration. Despite the importance of citizen engagement, we know little about its impact on the performance of government
agencies. Is participation only normatively desirable or does it have some practical value attached to it? We draw on data
from U.S. state transportation agencies to test the relevance of two theoretical perspectives about the effect of public participation
on organizational performance. The traditional perspective holds that there is a trade-off between democratic and administrative
decision making. A competing perspective suggests that citizen input provides administrators with valuable site-specific information
and contributes to more efficient and effective public programs. We find strong support for the latter perspective. Our results
show that there is not necessarily a trade-off between the values of democracy and bureaucracy, with clear implications for
the theory and practice of democratic governance.
... Rationales for participatory budgeting. Scholars have recognized both the normative and instrumental benefits that participation can bring to direct participants in the process, to communities, and to broader public policies and governance (Beierle & Cayford, 2002;Berman, 1997;Box, 1998;Irvin & Stansbury, 2004;Kathlene & Martin, 1991;King, Feltey, & Susel, 1998;King, Stivers, & Box, 1998;Nabatchi, 2010;Schachter, 1997;Stivers, 1990Stivers, , 1994Stivers, , 1998Thomas, 1995;Timney, 1998Timney, , 2011Watson, Juster, & Johnson, 1991). The budget process is an important avenue for making resource allocation decisions, and thus, participatory budgeting allows citizens to have a say in how the taxpayers' money is spent by government entities. ...
... None of the resources-related control variables are statistically significant in the fatality model. The findings from the models using both road condition and fatality rate as dependent variables are consistent with the expectations put forward by Stivers (1990) and Roberts (1997), who both argue that citizen participation leads to smarter public policies. Yet the input collected at some stages of budget development exerts greater effect than does the input collected at other stages. ...
... The extant research on citizen involvement argues that an engaged citizenry has the potential to solve a range of problems related to widespread distrust in government and to generate some important benefits for the participants in the process, such as educating them about the intricacies of policies and increasing the understanding on where both citizen and administrators stand on issues. Scholars (e.g., Fung, 2004;Moynihan, 2003;Roberts, 1997;Stivers, 1990) have contended that public participation can lead to innovative decisions, help avoid costly mistakes, and, thus, contribute to better performance of public programs. This study builds from this intellectual background, but it goes further by asking when in the process does citizen input make a greater difference. ...
Citizen participation in public budgeting processes has been widely advocated by both theorists and practitioners of public administration. Yet there is less agreement on when the public should be brought into the process and how the timing of citizen inclusion affects the outcomes of public agencies. Using survey data about citizen involvement practices utilized by the state departments of transportation (DOTs) across the country, the authors construct citizen input indices for different stages of the budget process and examine the impact of participation on the overall organizational effectiveness. The study results show that citizen participation in the budget process has greatest positive effect on organizational performance at both the early and ending stages of the budget process, namely, the stages of information sharing and program assessment.
... Although there is consensus among local governments and people that increased people's participation is necessary and valuable at the local level, the former however are not really keen on people participation. According to Stivers (1990), the key question is the extent of citizens involvement in public decision making. Are citizens capable of making policies and decisions or should the members of local government make all decisions based on their knowledge, isolated from people's opinion? ...
... Consistent with the perception of local government members on participation, a number of researchers have stated some arguments that prevent direct people participation. Fishkin (1991) and Stivers (1990) expressed how modern societies are too complex, and so it is difficult for government to support face-to face relationships. Cleveland (1975) believed mass participation is undesirable because it would be too expensive, too slow and a waste of time. ...
There is a growing consensus among citizens and members of local government that citizen participation is desirable for local government. However in practice, there are differing perceptions between them regarding the level and extent of citizen participation. As citizen participation is a multi faceted concept, its meaning is construed differently by both the members of local government and the citizen groups. This paper attempts to describe the conflicts that arise from participation. The paper is based on the study of the process of citizen participation in local government carried out in Torbat-Heydarieh city, Iran. A qualitative research method is seen as the most suitable approach of collecting and analyzing the data. The method employed for data collection in this research is in-depth interviews. In-depth interviews were conducted to gauge the existence of conflicts regarding participation. The findings reveal four areas that give rise to conflicts. This study also attempts to highlight two different views regarding citizen participation; the people-centered view and authority-centered view.
... Although few would deny the normative desirability of public participation in the decision making of a non-elected administrative branch (e.g., King, Fetley, and Susel 1998; Roberts 1997; Stivers 1990 Stivers , 1994), the large variation across public agencies in the extent of public participation indicate that there are also other considerations at play. We argue that aside from its ability to democratize administrative decision making, public participation serves important bureaucratic values such as achieving greater legitimacy of agency decisions and ensuring the support of critical constituency (see Meier 2000 and Handley and Howell-Moroney 2010; Moynihan 2003; Roberts 1997 Roberts , 2004 Roberts , 2008 Thomas 1990 Thomas , 1993 Thomas , 1995 Wang 2001; Yang and Callahan 2007; Yang and Pandey 2007), yet some critical links have remained understudied. ...
... Public participation refers to direct involvement of citizens in the decision making of administrative agencies. It opens government administration to citizen input and has the potential to increase the legitimacy and social acceptability of decisions made by unelected officials (e.g., Stivers 1990; Thomas 1990 Thomas , 1995). Roberts (2008, 5) describes it as a process by which members of society " share power with public officials in making substantive decisions related to the community. ...
Why are some government agencies more open to public input than others? Although many agree about the normative desirability of involving citizens in administrative decision making, there is significant variation across agencies in the extent of public participation. This paper investigates the conditions under which public managers solicit greater public participation. We argue that in addition to normative rationales, participation also serves instrumental considerations related to agency constituency. We draw on a rich body of literature examining participation in the policy process to develop empirically testable hypotheses about the patterns of participation in the administrative decision making of public agencies. Using data on the approaches to gathering citizen input in the budget process at four state departments—environmental protection, transportation, child protective services, and corrections—we find that the characteristics of target populations, namely, their political power and social construction, are strong predictors of an agency's openness to the public.
... Опишите его основные этапы и их результаты. Среди основных преимуществ привлечения общественности к принятию решений исследователи называют, прежде всего, следующие [3][4][5][6][7]: ...
The problems of the establishment of the institution for assessing the regulatory impact in the Russian Federation are analyzed. The methodology of sociological research is presented, the materials of which reconstruct the position of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia. The possibilities of institutions for assessing the regulatory impact and assessing the actual impact as forms of expert and public participation in the process of lawmaking are considered. The key problems are analyzed and recommendations are developed to increase the effectiveness of public participation in the law-making process and decision-making.
... Community participation as one of the central themes in planning practice is embraced for a number of crucial reasonsphilosophical, political and practical. From a philosophical point of view, community participation is essential because it develops the highest human capacities (Warner, 2001) and promotes moral character which ultimately helps to achieve virtues and to realise one's potential (Hart, 1972;Stivers, 1990). Politically, it legitimises the plan by engaging communities as well as meeting the requirements of national and international legislations and treaties. ...
Democratic country use to practice the public participation approach in planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of program. This is called 'bottom up approach' also; in this approach, last will be first. In this connection, the
study aim was to explore the public participation in environmental management Melamchi Valley of Sindhupalchowak
district of Nepal. The data was collected from the 404 people of surrounding 8 village development committee of Melamchi
Water Supply Project (MWSP). MWSP is the mega project designed to supply the drinking water to Kathmandu valley and
surrounding areas. The project is working since 1998. Melamchi River Water Diversion Subproject is doing different
activities like; Land Acquisition & Infrastructure Development Program, Social Uplift program, Environmental Management
Program, Water Treatment Plant and Melamchi Water Diversion Scheme. The study was based on the descriptive analysis.
The result showed that around 55% community people had knowledge of environment management activities of MWSP.
Around 39% physically visited the project office of MWSP. There was direct involvement of 16% - 20% community people in
identification and evaluation of environment management problem and status of those particular areas. Public participation
had contributed to enhance the communication and presentation capacity of community people also. People were aware
about the proper management of their surrounding environment. They were also conscious about the prevention of
communicable diseases. It was necessary to provide the skill based training to community people to manage their
environment by using their indigenous knowledge.
... The individual is often regarded as too driven by emotions and selfishness, or else he is too apathetic and passive (Stivers, 1990). When citizens are relatively satisfied with their situation, they will be content with playing a more passive citizen's role. ...
As climate change becomes an increasing concern in European countries, the bioeconomy could challenge previous conceptualizations about how states, citizens and corporations interact in everyday practices of natural resources governance. The conceptual understanding of responsive governance of the forest-based bioeconomy is an example of this challenge and is the topic of discussion in this paper. In Finland, there are efforts to support the transition towards the bio-based economy and to reform forest governance in an attempt to respond to local circumstances while mitigating global climate change. The recent articles have address the bioeconomy concept from political discourse point of view, the citizens participation has not yet been address sufficient in the current bioeconomy discourses. In order to fill this gap, this paper provides an empirical case from Finland and connects it to the theoretical contribution of responsive bioeconomy. The paper connects the capability approach and the forest based bioeconomy in the context of Finland. And argues that citizens could have capabilities and ability to participate in decisions about matters that directly affect their well-being. However, in the case of the forest based bioeconomy, the inclusion of citizens requires an interactive collaborative approach to empower various institutions and people to meet and debate on the development of their own living environment and environmental capability (i.e those bioeconomy opportunities to achieve outcomes people value). Citizens may not be able to find solutions and create the new innovations which the bioeconomy strategy require, yet it is the citizens who will live under the changed access to opportunities and entitlements including environmental services. For this reason, responsive governance and its adaptive and interactive administration need to ensure that many change actors are taken into account as a matter of basic justice in various processes of the bioeconomy transition. Therefore key aspects of change, such as citizens’ values, interests, knowhow and environmental entitlements need to be taken into account.
... When faced with choices, they will attempt to make decisions that reflect their own personal values " (Meier, 1993, p. 4). Often, within this stream of literature, it is believed that the roles of public servants draw upon a citizenship constructs; in essence, they are " professional citizens " within the context of their work environment (Cooper, 1991; Kalu, 2003; Frederickson, 1982; Stivers, 1990; Roman, 2015). This view carries recognizable positive normative connotations, such as in the case of the Blacksburg Manifesto (Wamsley et al., 1990). ...
Currently, our understandings of the dynamics behind the effects of politicization on values and on administrative decision-making remain largely muddled and far from complete. The richness of theoretical accounts, amassed over the past eight decades, has yielded only a limited number of empirical examinations. This failure to develop a coherent collection of empirical works can be for the most part attributed to the complexity associated with studying values, particularly to the lack of clear and testable theories and models. This article attempts to address this deficit and to add to our understandings of the association between values and administrative decision-making at the individual level by explicitly testing the Broker-Purist (BP) model (within a sample of public procurement specialists). It is found that the BP model fits the data well, which suggest the framework as a valid and useful perspective for conceptualizing the effects of environmental politicization on administrative decision-making in public procurement specifically, and in public administration in general.
... The normative arguments over traditional citizen participation revolve around its benefits and costs. Advocates for traditional citizen participation assert that citizen involvement in democracy will produce more citizensupported decision making on the part of administrators and a better appreciation of the larger community among the public (Stivers 1990;Oldfield 1990;Box 1998). Some scholars claim improved citizen participation could halt the deterioration of public trust and hostility toward the government (C. ...
... Public participation is an important aspect of local government in the United States and can be attributed to increased appreciation of the larger community among the public as well as create a better decision-making process through public preference (Irvin and Stansbury 2004;Stivers 1990;Oldfield 1990;Box 1998). With a streamlined process, governments can essentially make better informed decisions that might otherwise be halted by individuals or groups against an idea or project. ...
Public participation is not a form of civic responsibility that it once was. With not only fewer people taking part in the public participation process, there is a trend towards an older (45 years and older) group of residents that come to such meetings or workshops. Plans, such as Specific Plans or General Plans often take years to implement and require all generations to give feedback on what is needed for the future. Additionally, within the last decade, there has been a rise in social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. These websites emerged as informal virtual places for friends to connect, but have slowly evolved into a tool for businesses, and more importantly, government to connect with constituents. This study explores the relationship between the decline of public participation with findings to support the reasons residents do not take part in the process, and the rise of social media as a tool for engagement with findings to support how cities nationwide use Facebook. Social media provides a two-way form of communication between the community and the local government which aides in promoting genuine participation. Additionally, social media allows for efficient outreach and noticing of meetings or public workshops. As opposed to newspaper or website noticing, websites such as Facebook allow for local governments to target a specific audience by location, age, or interests. Findings indicate that although many cities developed a Facebook Page to engage the “younger generation”, all ages became fans of the City operated Facebook Page. In addition, the findings show that the true potential of Facebook as a participatory tool have not been discovered. cities are developing their own ways of using it as a tool as there is no formal best practices manual for City planning departments. The findings of this study have provided the necessary information to develop a best practices manual for planning practitioners to utilize. The manual provides information on developing a Facebook Page as well as the implications of the technology.
... Citizens' participation plays a prominent role in many community settings, ranging from work environments to public policies, as well as health and urban planning programs (Wandersman & Florin, 2000). The emergence of citizens' participation in public policymaking is largely dictated by the rationale that people desire policies that improve the quality of governmental decisions, and maximize community benefits (Box, 1997; Mannarini, Fedi, & Trippetti, 2010; Oldfield, 1990; Stivers, 1990). Notwithstanding these premises, motivating citizens to participate in policymaking is still a challenge. ...
Under what conditions do citizens of nations and states comply with governmental requests to participate in public policymaking? Drawing on the dual pathway model of collective action (Stürmer & Simon, 2004) but with a focus on compliance with the status quo, rather than participation in collective protest, two studies examined citizens’ motivation to participate in public policymaking. Study 1 (N = 169) was an MTurk hosted survey that recruited participants from California, while Study 2 (N = 198) was a field experiment that recruited participants in Sardinia, Italy. Study 1 measured cost-benefit analyses, societal identification, and willingness to participate in public policymaking. Study 2 repeated the same procedures except we manipulated costs of participation, and also measured participants’ trust in government. Study 1 confirmed our initial hypotheses – fewer costs predicted more willingness to participate, as did stronger state identification. However, Study 2 found an interactive effect of costs, identification, and trust on willingness to participate in public policymaking. Results confirm our hypotheses by showing both costs and identification independently influence willingness to participate in public policymaking. Results also add to the literature by showing these additive pathways can be influenced by trust in the source of governance.
... Indeed this might be the goal. The primary outcomes desired from collaboration on an environmental problem are things like citizen engagement (Stivers 1990), social empowerment, opposition appeasement, or maintaining the status quo (Stone 2001). These outcomes have little to do with environmental problems like water quality or species numbers (Brower et al. 2001;Ansell & Gash 2007). ...
Collaborative environmental governance is a prominent approach to natural resource governance in New Zealand. It is emerging in the Land and Water Forum, Canterbury Water Management Strategy, and the proposed Resource Legislation Amendment Bill. This article reviews political and economic theory to ask if collaboration is good for the environment in the context of the Land and Water Forum. Interest group and public choice theories offer cogent reasons for pessimism. Elinor Ostrom’s and Guy Salmon’s models offer reasons for optimism. I conclude that the most pertinent parts of Ostrom’s model for New Zealand are her caveats. Her model applies to closed systems, not open systems such as rivers with down-stream effects like nitrate E. coli contamination. In open ecological systems, pessimism about local collaborative environmental governance is warranted unless decisions are shackled to strong and unambiguous national regulation. Without strong regulation, collaborative governance creates systems in which those not invited into the collaborative deliberation do not count. In natural resource governance, this dynamic will favour resource development interests over conservation. I conclude that collaborative environmental governance risks being less than democratic, less than fair, and less than good for the environment. Not surprisingly, optimists and pessimists would view the Land and Water Forum differently. Optimists would say that it is an incomplete application of a promising model. Unfortunately, ecological outcomes data to settle the question are rarely collected internationally and do not exist yet in New Zealand. Pessimists would say it was doomed from the start by power imbalances, displaced and subjugated environmental goals, and a fundamental lack of democracy. Such pessimists might say Fish and Game was wise to pull out in November 2015, but would have been wiser to pull out sooner.
... В ходе проведенного опроса метод глубинных интервью позволил получить наиболее глубокую информацию, актуальные знания и развернутые комментарии специалистов по Среди основных преимуществ привлечения общественности к принятию решений исследователи называют, прежде всего, следующие [3][4][5][6][7]: ...
Анализируются проблемы становления института оценки регулирующего воздействия в Российской Федерации. Представлена методика социологического исследования, по материалам которого реконструирована позиция Минэкономразвития России. Рассмотрены возможности институтов оценки регулирующего воздействия и оценки фактического воздействия как форм экспертного и общественного участия в процессе законотворчества. Проанализированы ключевые проблемы и разработаны рекомендации по повышению эффективности общественного участия в законотворческом процессе и принятии решений.
... Follett's concept of circular management and the continuous learning cycle that it demands, not the scientific method, should be the process applied to managerial decision-making. Finding and serving the public interest is an ongoing process (Lewis, 2006) and requires that administrators have the discretion and flexibility to make decisions based on their intimate knowledge of the situation at hand (Stivers, 1990). "Reacting to relating" requires that public managers and policy makers form hypotheses based on foreknowledge, collect and interpret data in a democratic manner, and use their newly acquired knowledge to reevaluate and rework the original hypotheses in an effort to best follow the public interest and to create public value. ...
Networks are developing alongside traditional bureaucracies as viable entities for addressing wicked problems. This alternate organizational model requires that administrators learn to manage and lead in more horizontal power-sharing structures. Public administration scholars trace the rise of networks in the United States back to the 1990s, yet the settlement women of the Progressive Era established a managerial and organizational precedent for using democratically anchored governance networks to affect social change. This article examines the work of the settlement women and explores how contemporary network managers can adapt and apply valuable but frequently overlooked managerial lessons from the field’s history.
... Local government will make better decisions and will have greater impact on their communities, when they increase the frequency, diversity and level of engagement of local people. Citizen involvement in local government will produce more publicpreference decision making on part of administrators and better appreciation by the larger community among the public (Stivers 1990, Oldfield 1990, Box 1998. ...
The purpose of this paper is to describe the citizen's attitude toward local government and its relationship with level of participation. Participation in local government issues, requires a favorable attitude towards local government, councilors and councils' performance in terms of efficiency. The paper is based on the study of citizens' attitude towards local government, which was carried out in Torbat Hedarieh city, Iran. The analysis of data uses Pearson correlation to determine the relationship between variables involved. The findings revealed that two level of ladder participation (Tokenism and Citizen-power) have positive and significant relationship with attitude, while Non-participation level of ladder participation has negatively significant relationship with attitude. The findings of the study imply that those respondents who have positive attitude toward local government, councilors and council performance, would have the higher tendency to be actively involved in higher levels of participation, whereas who have negative attitude toward local government, would put less effort in higher levels of participation. [Seyed Hamid Mohammadi. Citizens' Attitude toward's Local Government and Citizen's Participation in Local Government. Journal of American Science 2010;6(11):575-583]. (ISSN: 1545-1003).
... Frederickson (1982) argues for recovered forms of civism where flexible and responsive organizations create a space where free and equal citizens can substantively engage with one another to resolve important issues. Similarly, Stivers (1990) extends the exploration of public administration's relationship to the citizenry in arguing that when active citizens interact with professional administrators in substantive ways, that it is possible to create a polis, "a public space in which members act together in order to achieve limited ends and to lead a virtuous life" (p. 86). ...
The conventional wisdom, and much of the citizen participation literature in public administration, works from a presumption that the stability of the social bond will come about as a result of more and better participation. However, under the conditions of late modernism including incommensurable language games, participation, even in the form of robust discourse, is insufficient for generating the social bond. In such conditions, some form of the social bond must exist prior to and in order for discursive participation to occur in the first place. Again, in the conditions of late modernism, the mechanical solidarity described by Emile Durkheim, or a social bond based in shared culture, religion and values no longer exists. In such conditions, some other basis to form the social bond must be found. This work suggests that the existence of a shared connection to place—built and natural physical environments—can establish the conditions for effective citizen participation to occur. Following a description of the social bond and its function, this article presents the findings of a case study which suggests that social connection to place can support the generation of the social bond, and that agencies can utilize that bond to facilitate robust, participatory discourse about management activities and outcomes.
... It is important to note that there are political benefits to citizens as well as government as a result of inclusion, including community-wide understanding of the tradeoffs and limitations that surround policy choices. In addition, inclusive management acknowledges that public problems cannot be solved by government alone (Boyte, 2005;Weber & Khademian, 2008) but in active partnership with citizens and civil society holding collective responsibility (Boyte, 2005;Lemmie, 2008;Stivers, 1990). As Mendoza and Vernis (2008, p. 393) observe, "The legitimacy of the relational state stems from its capacity for dialogue and openness towards different social actors, its ability to foster social inclusion as well as to assume leadership and obtain results through partnerships and interorganizational networks." ...
The purpose of this study is to define and apply an engagement framework built upon
Inclusive Management theory to examine the practice of participation as understood by
administrators, elected officials, NGO leaders and public participation practitioners
across multiple countries and to illustrate the framework through three case studies.
Specifically, it asks how does Inclusive Management guide us in understanding
participation as practiced by managers/leaders with responsibility for this work? It
also considers the potential connections between management and participation as
demonstrated in the data, and further, it seeks to identify how IM as a theory may be
enriched or empirically elaborated as a result of this examination. This research
examines the observation of phenomena identified by study participants ordinarily not
considered a consequence of efforts that engage the public. Using inclusive management
theory, the resulting engagement framework includes clusters of outcomes, continuous
events and capacity-building as its core elements. The framework shows inclusive
management in action and offers a different way of knowing (Feldman, Khademian,
Ingram, & Schneider, 2006; Gomez, Bouty, & Drucker-Godard, 2003; Nicolini,
Gherardi, & Yanow, 2003) participation in government decision making than generally is
depicted in the public participation literature or characterized anecdotally. The
engagement framework also corresponds in several ways to the techniques of dialogue,
deliberation and appreciative inquiry. As the data will demonstrate in this dissertation,
the engagement framework may draw upon these techniques, and moreover, that the
relational, informational and stewardship dimensions of engagement reinforce one
another. This dissertation also addresses a longstanding gap in the participation
literature, in that it provides strategies that connect management theory and practice with
participatory principles.
... This normative perspective of participation is based on the recognition of basic democratic rights, as well as on the understanding that it may promote intellectual and social development. Following Pateman (1970), the rationale of citizen participation is based on empowerment, inclusion, and education, regarding the society as made up of citizens instead of consumers (Stivers, 1990). These arguments advocating for citizen participation are based on the strengths of this process and on the belief that having an engaged citizenry is better than having a passive citizenry (Arnstein, 1969). ...
The participation of citizens in public policies is an opportunity not only to educate them, but also to increase their empowerment. However, the best way for deploying participatory policies, defining their scope and approach, still remains an open and continuous debate. Using as a case study the Brazilian National Agency of Electric Energy (Aneel), with its public hearings about tariff review, this paper aims at analyzing the democratic aspects of these hearings and challenges the hypothesis of many scholars about the social participation bias in this kind of procedure. This study points out a majority participation of experts, contrasting with the political content of discussions. And, this way, it contributes to a critical analysis of the public hearings as a participatory tool, indicating their strengths and their aspects which deserve a special attention.
... 2000. The main precept accorded to citizen participation is the credence that linking citizens in a Jeffersonian democracy on the administrator's part would lead to additional public preferred decision making while on part of the public it would lead to improving the larger public society ( Stivers ,C, 1990, Oldfield, A, 1990. Arguments favoring enhancement of citizen participation spotlight the advantages of the method itself. ...
In developing countries, making of a public policy features resolutions of problems entrenched in policy community and policy network. Its formulation does not only require decisions taken only from the highest authority but also includes enticement and involvement of many new actors bringing in additional actors and inducements important for a policy design. The paper attempts to study making of public policy in developing countries. Following the dominant model bureaucratic politics, various approaches, their policy designs, tools of policy, integration and involvement of actors, their discourse related to their policy communities and their networks of policy are studied to understand and learn lesson and important elements necessary for formulation of a policy. Further, reasons for loopholes and failures in public policy formulation have been elaborated by studying the case of Pakistan. In conclusion, the way forward for positive policy outcomes has been detailed by highlighting the concept of citizen participation and focusing on four focal areas of process, quality, structure and politics required for practicing and implementing policies in theory and practice.
... Within this paradigm, administration of public policies, including budgeting, is considered a professional pursuit requiring expertise to be executed in an effi cient and eff ective way. Moreover, bureaucracy is thought to derive its legitimacy as a policy maker from its expertise (Dahl 1989; Stivers 1990). Th e norms of democratic ethos require that public policies refl ect public preferences. ...
Allocation of public resources is an area in which considerations of both economic efficiency and democratic legitimacy are likely to be present. Public administrators are often blamed for being too devoted to the norms of bureaucratic ethos, such as efficiency, effectiveness, and top-down control, and less so to the norms of democratic ethos, such as inclusiveness and bottom-up decision making. This article examines whether managers in agencies with greater budget autonomy are more likely to include the public when allocating resources. Because participation offers an opportunity for agencies to enhance the legitimacy of their decisions, it is expected that the value of citizen input will increase with the degree of agency autonomy. Using data on the practices of citizen participation in budgeting in two state departments—transportation and environment—this study finds that agencies with a higher degree of autonomy tend to be more open to public comment than agencies with more centralized budget processes.
... In literary world, this area sparks debate over the public control in the affairs of public bureaucracies (Garrity, 1968;Arnstein, 1969;Rohr & Chandler, 1984;Crosby, Kelly, & Schaefer, 1986;Stivers, 1990;Dahl, 1994;King, Feltey, & Susel, 1998;Irvin & Stansbury, 2004;Meng, Pan, & Yang, 2017). In 1924, Mary parker Follett suggests that the public managers could not working as expert managers, but they should act with the consent of the public so public have opportunity to directly participate in the affairs of the state. ...
ABSTRACT: Democracy is an idea which often invoked but little understood into the literary world. Indeed, Democracy gives good living standards around the globe but in literary world, there are many scholars who raise many serious objections to many of the established features of democratic thoughts. Democracy has some basic flaws in democratic process which tends to fall in two related themes, as many political scientists identified earlier in the past. Some scholars believe in the ‘minimal democracy’ and argue that the democratic decision-making is ineffective and sometimes undesirable in the situation when democratic systems unable to compensate the desires of their citizens. In contrast, the other school of thought believes in ‘participatory democracy’ which assumes as a deliberative understanding of democracy and engages the citizens in the democratic process. Currently, Democracy is in deep problem with the lack of interest and confidence by the citizens in the state institutions of the country.
KEYWORDS: Minimal democracy, Participatory democracy
... No amount of planning is successful if the communities are not involved in decision-making process as well as in implementation process. Highquality participation contributes positively to effective and legitimate decisionmaking (Rabe 1994;Stivers 1990) and is deliberative (Ruscio 1996;Stanley 1990). Satisfactory participation leads to development of personal relationships and trust is developed between community and decision makers. ...
Unanticipated, unpredictable social and environmental changes adversely affect communities living in tropical constrained environment. This conceptual paper investigates the adaptations and resilience of communities earning their livelihood through the tourism sector. This chapter is built through extensive literature reviews and proposes a conceptual framework focusing on community development, sustainable development and tourism. The proposed strategic framework model highlights the need for engagement of resident community in the process of tourism development in constrained environments. It suggests that the community participation will be helpful in effective policy planning, decision-making, implementation, monitoring and evaluating policies. The significant contribution of this research is in the continuous engagement of community members in the planning of tourism activities, through the strategic framework. The insightful information on implications of community participation will be helpful for researchers, policy makers and especially the tourism industry.
... Almond and Verba (1989) raised the issue of pubic tendency to address themselves, as subjects not citizens, hence, are not willing to participate in the first place. Stivers (1990) believes that due to the current sizes and complexities of states and its cities, face-to-face participation is impossible. Barber (1981) indicated that citizens' participation might create conflicts more than reach consensus which harms the social stability. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to address to what extent local administration is involved in national planning focusing on drafting and reviewing processes of “Egypt Vision 2030”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper plan to use focus group discussions and descriptive-analytical approach with representatives of local administration in three governorates.
Findings
Importance of local participation is not any more a question; however, participation concept and methodology are what matters. Participatory approach is not complex-free. It is crucial to consider conflicts of interest groups, ideologies, and political trends, communities’ high expectations, particularly of those who were marginalized and deprived for long time. Definitions should not be unified on national, regional and local levels. Each community needs to agree on its own definitions, needs, dreams and paths toward development. Accordingly, the role of the planner is to expand choices and opportunities for each citizen. Participation in planning for the future must include the coming generation who are opting to live this tomorrow. That requires institutionalization of youth participation in the decision-making processes.
Research limitations/implications
It was difficult to ensure meeting adequate sample; however, the author does believe that the participated sample represents the case.
Practical implications
The impact of public participation in planning on enhancing the planning processes and strategic planning outcomes and implementation is not a matter of questioning anymore, although governments do not pay due attention.
Social implications
Public participation in planning processes named participative planning is crucial for achieving development, social justice, economic development and public trust in governments.
Originality/value
The paper depends on focus-group discussions that were conducted by the author. Analysis and discussions reflect the author’s academic and practical experiences.
... We argue that inclusiveness with respect to the structural design of PB is an important factor for assessing whether a participatory process achieves social justice. Affirmative structural conditions enable the public to exercise administrative discretion in governance with public administrators (Stivers, 1990). One of the ways that the government attempts to better recognize and reflect diverse interests from the public is to design organizational structures to encourage participation at the local level, for example, creating "organizational entities tied to underrepresented stakeholder groups" (King and Stivers, 1998: 129). ...
This study examines the relationship between inclusiveness with respect to the structural design of the participatory process and resource allocation outcomes in participatory budgeting. Empirically, this article examines the case of participatory budgeting in Seoul, South Korea, where redistribution is not an explicit goal. Findings suggest that creating organizational structures that enable and encourage public participation has led Seoul’s participatory budgeting to distribute public funds toward poor neighborhoods.
Points for practitioners
Participatory budgeting is an exemplar practice of public participation in the government decision-making process. It is a local budgeting practice that allows the public to participate, discuss, deliberate, and decide where and how to spend public money. This study highlights the importance of designing inclusive organizational structures in participatory budgeting to encourage public participation. Empirical results underscore the link between inclusive organizational structures and more equitable allocation outcomes.
... Nearly all construed citizenship not as merely a legal status but as a practice that entails both privileges and responsibilities, including the obligation to be actively engaged in public life (Bryson, Crosby, & Bloomberg, 2014;Bryson, Crosby, & Stone, 2015;Cooper & Gulick, 1984;Denhardt & Denhardt, 2000;King & Stivers, 1998;Nabatchi, 2010). Accordingly, with the intention of fostering a stronger democracy, scholars exhorted administrators to create the conditions, processes, and structures necessary to foster opportunities for citizens to exercise a role in their communities, to make authoritative decisions about communal life, and to develop the skills and abilities necessary for citizenship (Bingham, Nabatchi, & O'Leary, 2005;Cooper & Gulick, 1984;King, Stivers, & Box, 1998;Stivers, 1990). ...
Civic engagement in U.S. political life has declined since the 1950s resulting in a deluge of studies that explore its causes and implications. Research to date has directed little attention to the institutional role of associations as the foundation for civic engagement in all of its forms. This article utilizes institutional theory as a lens to examine the ways in which community-based organizations (CBOs), in tandem with local government, foster civic engagement, and enhance representation in their communities. Through interview data obtained from stakeholders of 18 local education foundations (LEFs) in Florida, we examine the ways in which CBOs nurture civic health with client communities (generative role) and represent their interests in local policy arenas (mediating role). Based on the results of this initial study, we argue that greater attention should be directed to the relationships between CBOs and measures of civic health given their unique capacity to foster it. Results indicate the relationship between generative and mediating activities is such that CBOs’ engagement with client communities establishes the foundational knowledge necessary for representing their interests in the interorganizational arena. In addition, CBOs were found to establish both bridging and bonding capital in the interorganizational arena through their efforts to exert influence on behalf of client communities.
... Environmental Protection, Citizen Participation and The Corps of Engineers published from Washington D.C. Day (1997) has mentioned that Citizen Participation in public affairs "seems to hold a sacrosanct role in U.S. political culture. A central tenet of the enthusiasm accorded to citizen participation is the belief that citizen involvement in a Jeffersonian democracy will produce more public-preference decision making on the part of administrators and a better appreciation of the larger community among the public (Stivers, 1990;Oldfield, 1990). ...
This paper surveys the citizen's participation in the decision making process through ward shava at the local government in Bangladesh. The study aims are to measure the citizen's participation in the decision making process by ward shava in reality. A survey method was conducted and data collected from 24 respondents from Gogram Union at Godagari Upazila in Rajshahi District. The findings of this study showed there is a very limited scope of bottom-up planning (Union Parishad to Central Government) so that local needs, priorities, and aspirations could be reflected in the macro-level planning of the country.
Today public involvement in strategic planning process in Russia wasn't created as the effective instrument of increase in its quality. In the article we describe two main groups of problems of public involvement in strategic planning process and show that they lead to restrictions of public participation in strategic planning process. Original diagnostics of a situation is often substituted for the “convenient” picture for public authorities, and discussion of the strategic challenges and responses stated by real stakeholders doesn't happen. In what extente these problems are solved with the help of modern digital technologies? Analyzing experience of a number of Russian regions we show that the main reason for low activity of public discussion is the low level of credibility of the public to the existing institutes of public participation transferred to Internet space, fed by unavailability of public authorities to horizontal (communication, dialogue) discussion model. This conclusion is confirmed also by results of survey of young Russians conducted by the Saint Petersburg State University Graduate School of Management. At the same time digital technologies really expand a range of opportunities for horizontal interaction of the government and stakeholders in the course of a strategic planning, simplify it. Digital technologies organize communication of people in the territory, promoting formation of communities that allows to work in the course of a strategic planning not with opinions of certain people, but with communities in which the put-forward ideas and opinions have undergone active discussion on various “digital” communicative platforms. Due to communities it is possible to build in the strategy the initiatives going from below up effectively. However at domination of “technocratic” approach there is a risk of preservation of outdated institutional structures and models of management. Thus, digital technologies really promote public involvement in strategic planning process. It's possible on condition of formation of horizontal communication, but not at “digitization” of the existing Russian communication approaches.
Advocates of citizen participation argue that a greater role for citizens in the budget process can help city governments
undergoing fiscal retrenchment by improving budget choices and citizens’ willingness to pay, among others. A contrary view
suggests that citizens are free riders who want lower taxes but oppose service cuts. How has citizen input influenced the
choice of fiscal retrenchment strategies in municipal governments during the Great Recession? The analysis shows that when
it comes to budget cutting, participatory cities have a higher probability of adopting highly contentious strategies, including
eliminating services and laying off workers compared with nonparticipatory cities. For raising revenues, participatory cities
avoid increasing property taxes. Citizens’ fiscal choices raise questions about the future of local autonomy and, ultimately,
citizens’ ability to influence policymaking in the evolving intergovernmental system.
Background:
Early involvement of stakeholders in neuroethics and neurogovernance discourses of neuroscientific and neurotechnological advancements is seen as essential to curtail negative consequences. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists (AUs) make use of neuroadvancements including cochlear implants, brain-computer interfaces, and deep-brain stimulation. Although they have a stake in neuroethics and neurogovernance discussions, they are rarely mentioned in having a role, whether as professionals or as citizens.
Objective:
The objective of the study was to explore the role of SLPs and AUs as professionals and citizens in neuroethics and neurogovernance discussions and examine the utility of lifelong learning mechanisms to learn about the implications of neuroadvancements to contribute in a meaningful way to these discussions.
Methods:
Semi-structured interviews conducted with 7 SLPs and 3 AUs were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results:
Participants stated that their roles expected from them as professionals and as citizens indicate the importance to be knowledgeable on ethical, legal, and social implications of neuroadvancements and that lifelong learning is not used to learn about these implications.
Conclusion:
More must be done to facilitate the participation of SLPs and AUs in neuroethics and neurogovernance discussions, which would enrich the neuroethics and neurogovernance discourses benefitting patients, professionals, and the public.
The purpose of this paper is to identify ‘participative politics' and what is here called ‘self‐service politics' as distinct political themes in many advanced democracies, in order to investigate their main elements and chart their interrelationships. These two themes are examined from the viewpoint of politicization and depoliticization tendencies. Participative politics consists of three main forms, defined as active citizenship, citizen networks and co‐production. Self‐service politics, in turn, connects each of these forms to a larger political transformation by pitting themes of activating politics, social governance and accountability against them. The paper investigates what bearing participative politics, and self‐service politics as its inevitable attendant, have on the sphere of democratic deliberation.
Democratic governance is characterised by the existence of a viable civil
a society that is able to keep a check on governmental activities, and in
so doing, enhance the quality of life for its residents. This article reports
on two federalist democratic societies, the United States (US) and the
Federal Republic of Nigeria located on different continents and whose
constitutions commit to rule by the people, but whose practices may call
that commitment into question. These two societies are different when one
considers variation in cultural contexts, length of time formally committed
to democratic governance, constitutional arrangements designed to foster
bureaucratic consultation with its citizens, and experiences, nevertheless,
both countries need to continuously evaluate and refine participatory
practices. Using the experiences from the modern cities in the US and
the Ogba community in Nigeria as cases, these participatory practices are
engaged, critiqued and insights are presented
Processes for gathering representative inputs about organizational activities or preferences related to decisions are seldom institutionalized. After reviewing the inputs of stakeholders, participation activities, and participant motivations in the earlier chapters, this statement may not seem surprising. There are almost as many types and groupings of stakeholders as there are active and passive participation activities. The number and variety of both have been continuously growing alongside globalization and technological advances, which, when combined, increase the geographic reach of stakeholders and organizations. Motivations can push and pull people into participation. Making an organizational commitment to a stakeholder engagement regime signals that an organization desires to be proactively responsive to stakeholders through their decisions as well as in the everyday activities of providing goods and services. Stakeholder engagement practices promote and evaluate relationships and design strategies for relationship management that can enhance value creation related to the organization’s economic and social performance goals.
Recognizing the current public participation literature predominantly adopting the public administrator’s perspective rather than a citizen perspective, this paper identifies the concept of identity and identity construction as it relates to the public and citizen’s active participation in public administration. We note that the concept of identity within the study of public participation processes, while has been peripherally mentioned, has not been adequately explored and connected to established identity concepts and that clarification of the concept of identity within public participation in a public administration context will provide value to understanding citizen motivations to participate. We proposed a conceptual model based in three propositions regarding the relationships between public participation, identity construction, and motivation. Based on our synthesis of the research and proposed model, we suggest a research agenda to further explore the relationship between public participation and identity. The paper concludes with a review of the theoretical contributions and practical implications of our research, including the proposition that furthering a citizen perspective of public participation incorporating the study of citizen identity construction, the method to expanding our understanding of public administration’s role in addressing the citizenship and democratic deficits in the modern United States.
Few organizations purposefully design processes for facilitating stakeholder interactions. Doing this requires knowledge of stakeholders who are and who are not likely to participate as well as the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of different participation activities for gathering stakeholders’ preferences. Systematic analysis can lead to tailored opportunities for the facilitation of stakeholder interactions and the development of routines for the transmission of preference information from administrators to decision-makers. The challenges of facilitated interactions are primarily in structuring the process so that the perspectives of nonparticipants are represented and perceptions of undue influence are lowered. By carefully designing a facilitated process for stakeholder interactions, administrators can expand the quantity and quality of stakeholder preference data available for decisions. Then, they can routinely communicate this information to decision-makers. The value expected to be produced by facilitated participation is improvement in the stakeholders’ perception of organizational responsiveness.
Between partnership and symbolism: The role of citizens in European regional policy
An online survey of public administration graduate students in the United States¹ was conducted in early 2010 to measure students’ views on public participation. In addition, document analysis was used to investigate MPA curricula and the extent to which NASPAA-accredited programs were teaching courses in this area. Survey results² indicate that most respondents (a) believe public participation is important to good governance, (b) see themselves as facilitators of public participation, and (c) are interested in learning more about the subject. Analysis of MPA-accredited program curricula showed few graduate-level public administration programs offering courses on public participation and citizen engagement. The findings point to the opportunity, and need, for greater emphasis on public participation in MPA curricula.
Public participation affords public officials the opportunity to tap into diverse citizen knowledge that may help solve complex social problems. In order to best understand how to design effective participation, it is necessary to consider the perspectives of both public administrators and citizens; however, public administration literature has focused less on the citizen perspective. This article narrows the gap in the literature by elaborating a citizen perspective of participation and suggesting that identity plays a role in participation. It adopts a social identity approach in order to theorize how citizen identity constructed through participation is best conceptualized as a social identity, and to demonstrate how this social identity relates to citizen motivation to participate. The authors suggest that linking participation to a social identity approach elaborates a citizen perspective of participation and has value for furthering understanding of citizen-administrator collaboration.
This article discusses three aspects in relation to Complexity Theory. First, from an understanding of time and space specificities in the rise of theories, it discusses the wider socio-political reasons that may account for the rise of complexity theory and its interest for planners today. The rise of the third sector in governance, the decentralisation of the nation state, the rise of informality, the exponential rise of information and knowledge in every sphere of human and non-human activity and the rise of new normative ideologies are argued to provide the social context for interest in complexity theory. Second, this article positions complexity theory within general social science theories and argues that complexity theory best suits the second-order realm of social science theorisation. Third, this article positions complexity theory within planning theory and suggests that complexity theorists within planning might engage with the theory in three ways. These are by suggesting new ways of ordering of society and space by configuring or re-configuring planning systems in the first order, unravelling new opportunities for actors to work in society and space with largely self-organised entities and finally by searching for and discovering new dynamics for systems in the first order in society and space.
Ο Κωσταντίνος Τσουκαλάς είναι από τους πρώτους πoυ ενέταξαν τη διοίκηση στον κοινωνιολογικό τους προβληματισμό. Η σύγχρονη ενασχόληση με θέματα της δημόσιας διοίκησης αντίθετα κατατρύχεται από τον πειρασμό μιας ωφελιμιστικής, τεχνικής προσέγγισης. Το σύντομο αυτό κείμενο γύρω από μια διοικητική ουτοπία αναδεικνύει τις κανονιστικές αναζητήσεις της σύγχρονης διοικητικής θεωρίας.
In this study, we analysed US-based public opinion data to determine the influence of particular modes of participation on citizen perceptions of public–private partnerships (PPP). Our summary finding is that information dissemination can improve community support of PPPs, but interactive engagement is more important, and likely required, for assuring citizens that projects reflect their interests – an issue vital to the long-term sustainability of PPPs. Counter to expectations, respondents indicated a preference for meetings with private partner representatives over those with their public sector counterparts; implying the value of citizen-direct relationships in holding third-party providers to account.
This article responds to the question of whether public administrators should work to encourage citizen identification with community as a way to build social capital. More specifically, the paper articulates a rationale for public administration's utilization of place—physical environment—as a mechanism to support the emergence of robust, active civil society. The article describes a fundamental difficulty facing many public organizations, the current responses proposed by the civil society literature and its limits, and develops a conceptual framework that may prove useful in overcoming those limits. Based on this framework, the article concludes with the presentation of a preliminary model that details some of the specific ways administrators can utilize the proposed framework.
This article addresses an important yet often neglected component of electronic civic engagement efforts: managerial ambivalence about public participation. We examine how managers’ beliefs about public participation and their perceived needs for participation in agency decision making work together to shape electronic engagement efforts. Based on observational data collected in 2010 and 2014 and data from a 2014 survey of managers in 500 U.S. municipal governments, we find that managerial beliefs about participation and their perceived needs for participation are two valid and separate constructs. There is a positive relationship between managerial beliefs and electronic engagement. Perceived needs for participation interact with managers’ beliefs to affect electronic civic engagement. A high level of perceived needs for participation reinforces the effect of managerial beliefs on electronic engagement efforts, but a low level does not offset the effect of managerial beliefs on electronic engagement.
Background:
The early involvement of many actors including health professionals is identified in neuroethics and neurogovernance discussions as crucial in constructing conversations around awareness, reaction, and knowledge development pertaining to the ethical, legal, and societal consequences of neuroscientific or neurotechnological advancements (NA). Occupational Therapists (OTs) have a stake in NA; however, OTs are rarely mentioned within this context. Lifelong learning (LL) could be used to increase OTs knowledge on NA and its consequences. However, LL is rarely mentioned within neuroethics and neurogovernance discussions.
Objective:
The study's purpose is to understand the role of OTs as professionals and citizens in neuroethics and neurogovernance discussions and to examine the utility of LL processes put in place for OTs to empower OTs to contribute in a meaningful way to NA discussions.
Methods:
8 semi-structured interviews with OTs were conducted and analyzed using a directed content analysis.
Results:
Although participants believed OTs can provide a holistic perspective to neurogovernance discussions, their knowledge on NA and its consequences is limited, and LL is not used as a tool to remain informed about such consequences.
Conclusion:
More education on NA and its consequences throughout their OT degree and through LL opportunities is warranted to facilitate their involvement.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.