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Citizen Participation (citizen + participation)
Selected AbstractsTOWARDS A PARADIGM OF DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION: CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND CO-PRODUCTION OF PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN SWEDENANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2009Victor Pestoff ABSTRACT:,Many countries in Europe are now searching for new ways to engage citizens and involve the third sector in the provision and governance of social services in order to meet major demographical, political and economic challenges facing the welfare state in the 21st Century. Co-production provides a model for the mix of both public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provision of a public service. Citizen participation involves several different dimensions: economic, social, political and service specific. The extent of citizen participation varies between different providers of welfare services, as too does user and staff influence. Empirical materials from a recent study of childcare in Sweden will be used to illustrate these points. However, the role of citizens and the third sector also varies between countries and social sectors. Third sector providers facilitate citizen participation, while a glass ceiling for participation exists in municipal and for-profit providers. Moreover, co-production takes place in a political context, and can be crowded-in or crowded-out by public policy. These findings can contribute to the development of a new paradigm of participative democracy. [source] Citizen Participation in the Health Sector in Rural Bangladesh: Perceptions and RealityIDS BULLETIN, Issue 2 2004Simeen Mahmud First page of article [source] Citizen Participation in Budgeting TheoryPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2006Carol Ebdon Citizen participation in government budgeting processes is a topic that has received attention for many decades. Despite prescriptive exhortations to cities, research in this area has significant limitations. We identify four elements that are believed to influence the participation process. The variables within each element have received attention in the empirical literature, but no systematic effort has been made to uncover interaction effects and extend theory to make it more robust. We consider the weaknesses of our knowledge, suggest an impact model of citizen participation in budgeting, and identify hypotheses that may be tested in future research. [source] Searching for a Role for Citizens in the Budget ProcessPUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 1 2004Carol Ebdon Citizen participation in the local budget process is not prevalent, despite encouragement from scholars and professional organizations. This case study of two Kansas cities that have used a variety of input mechanisms in the budget process analyzes the effectiveness of citizen budget participation. Limited effectiveness was found, which may largely be due to the timing of the input, unstated or unclear goals, implementation difficulties, and political and environmental constraints. Citizen input appears to have had little effect on budget decisions, and neither city has institutionalized participation in the process. However, the input mechanisms serve other purposes, such as education and support for specific proposals. Describing the benefits as well as the difficulty of involving citizens in a meaningful way is beneficial to other governments as they wrestle with the issue of defining the citizens' role in the budget process. [source] TOWARDS A PARADIGM OF DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION: CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND CO-PRODUCTION OF PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN SWEDENANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2009Victor Pestoff ABSTRACT:,Many countries in Europe are now searching for new ways to engage citizens and involve the third sector in the provision and governance of social services in order to meet major demographical, political and economic challenges facing the welfare state in the 21st Century. Co-production provides a model for the mix of both public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provision of a public service. Citizen participation involves several different dimensions: economic, social, political and service specific. The extent of citizen participation varies between different providers of welfare services, as too does user and staff influence. Empirical materials from a recent study of childcare in Sweden will be used to illustrate these points. However, the role of citizens and the third sector also varies between countries and social sectors. Third sector providers facilitate citizen participation, while a glass ceiling for participation exists in municipal and for-profit providers. Moreover, co-production takes place in a political context, and can be crowded-in or crowded-out by public policy. These findings can contribute to the development of a new paradigm of participative democracy. [source] Jumping off Arnstein's ladder: social learning as a new policy paradigm for climate change adaptationENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 6 2009Kevin Collins Abstract Participation of citizens, groups, organizations and businesses is now an essential element to tackle climate change effectively at international, European Union, national and local levels. However, beyond the general imperative to participate, major policy bodies offer little guidance on what this entails. We suggest that the dominance of Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation in policy discourses constrains the ways we think about, and critically the purposes we ascribe to, participation in a climate change context. We suggest an alternative framing of climate change, where no single group has clear access to understanding the issue and its resolution. Thus adaptation is fundamentally dependent on new forms of learning. Drawing on experiences of social learning approaches to natural resource managing, we explore how a commitment to social learning more accurately embodies the new kinds of role, relationship, practice and sense of purpose required to progress adaptive climate change agendas and practices. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Participation and/or/versus sustainability?ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2005Austria, Tensions between procedural, substantive goals in Two Local Agenda 21 processes in Sweden Abstract Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is committed to two types of goal: procedural goals substantiated primarily in the requirement to encourage greater participation in local decision making and substantive goals predominantly attached to the call for a sustainable development. In this article, we report on the LA21 processes of two communities, Helsingborg, Sweden, and Vienna, Austria. We analyse what kind of normative tension the two communities have experienced by concurrently striving for democracy and sustainability. We also discuss what impact the two LA21 processes have on local governance structures and what potentials for more fundamental system changes they hold. Our analysis shows that the challenge of actually reconciling possibly conflicting goals is far from easy. In Helsingborg, the apparent harmony of goals has been achieved partly by falling back on political rhetoric, partly by interpreting the two goals in a narrow way, i.e. sustainability policy has been reduced to environmental issues and citizen participation has been equated with ,paternalistic' consultation. The Viennese LA21 process has managed to implement the two goals in a more comprehensive way, but this has come at the cost of being marginalized by the central political actors. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Regulated competition and citizen participation: lessons from IsraelHEALTH EXPECTATIONS, Issue 2 2000David Chinitz PhD Objective To investigate the relationship between health system structure and citizen participation, in particular whether increased reliance on competition encourages or depresses citizen involvement. Setting The case of Israel's ongoing health reform, based on regulated competition among sick funds, is examined. Design Interviews with government officials and representatives of consumer groups; analysis of policy documents, judicial rulings, public surveys and journalistic accounts. Results The Israeli reform is based in large measure on a regulated competition model, in which citizens have free choice among highly regulated competing sick funds. At the same time, the reform process has been accompanied by legal, institutional and political frameworks, as well as significant interest group activity, all aimed at increasing public input into processes of health policy making and implementation. The Israeli case, it is argued, lends support to the proposition that citizen participation (voice) and individual choice (exit) are complementary, rather than alternative, modes of ensuring citizen influence over health services. The question is whether the development of multiple avenues for citizen involvement represents disarray or a healthy social learning process regarding the running of the health system. Conclusion This paper expresses cautious optimism that citizen participation is a projection of a healthy social learning process, and suggests directions for public policy to encourage this outcome. [source] The Electoral Impact of Direct-Democratic PracticesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008EVA ANDUIZA Abstract In recent years there has been a growing interest in the integration of mechanisms of direct citizen participation in the institutional structure of representative democracy, particularly at the local level. This essay examines the electoral impact of mechanisms of direct citizen participation. Although it is often considered that participatory schemes can be a means to achieve electoral success in the hands of politicians seeking re-election, quantitative analyses of 65 Spanish municipalities demonstrate that electoral success is far from being an immediate consequence of direct democratic practices (DDPs). The qualitative analysis of four cases shows that electoral consequences directly attributable to participatory devices depend on their design and on how they fit into the whole political process. Participatory processes that are too rigid and those, especially, that generate expectations that cannot be translated into real policies may end up having a negative effect. On the other hand, DDPs may account for network-building and improved information among citizens that, in turn, may have electoral consequences. DDPs are thus neither a blessing nor a cure per se in their electoral effects. Instead, as with representative democracy, their consequences and success will ultimately depend upon their procedural dimension. Résumé Ces dernières années ont connu un intérêt croissant pour l'intégration de mécanismes de participation directe des citoyens dans le cadre institutionnel de la démocratie participative, notamment au niveau local. Cet article examine l'impact électoral des mécanismes de participation directe. Même si on estime souvent que les systèmes participatifs peuvent permettre la victoire d'hommes politiques en quête de réélection, des analyses quantitatives sur 65 municipalités espagnoles montrent que le succès électoral est loin de résulter automatiquement des pratiques de démocratie directe (PDD). L'analyse qualitative de quatre cas révèle que les incidences électorales imputables directement aux dispositifs participatifs dépendent du concept utilisé et de la manière dont ceux-ci s'intègrent dans le processus politique global. Si les démarches participatives sont trop rigides, et notamment si elles suscitent des attentes qui ne peuvent se traduire dans des politiques publiques concrètes, elles sont susceptibles d'avoir, en fin de compte, un effet négatif. En revanche, les PDD peuvent expliquer la construction de réseaux et l'amélioration de l'information entre les citoyens, ce qui peut influer sur des élections. Les PDD ne sont donc ni une bénédiction ni une malédiction en termes d'incidences électorales. A l'instar de celles de la démocratie représentative, leurs conséquences et leur réussite vont finalement dépendre de leur dimension procédurale. [source] From ,Great' Leaders to Building Networks: The Emergence of a New Urban Leadership in Southern Europe?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2004William Genieys This article reviews the changes that have taken place in local government leadership in France and Spain. It has been argued that political leadership in local government in Southern Europe is characterized by major political leaders who are able to obtain resources from central government through their political connections. However, both French and Spanish local governments have evolved while developing new forms of leadership that are more connected to territory, its people and local issues than to the respective administrative capitals. The article argues that the development of new policies at the local level, the opening of new avenues of citizen participation and the introduction of new methods of public management have changed the relationship between elected representatives and the people. Institutional innovations at the supra-municipal level have also created a space between regions and municipalities for local leaders to develop their capacity as project leaders and network creators. Cet article examine les changements survenus au niveau de l'autorité gouvernementale locale en France et en Espagne. L'autorité politique dans un gouvernement local du sud de l'Europe se caractérise, assure-t-on, par de grands leaders politiques capables d'obtenir des ressources du gouvernement central grâce à leurs relations. Pourtant, les gouvernements locaux français et espagnols ont évolué tout en élaborant des formes originales de leadership, plus proches du territoire, de sa population et des affaires locales que les capitales administratives concernées. La conception de politiques publiques novatrices au plan local, l'ouverture d'autres accès à la participation des citadins et l'introduction de nouvelles méthodes de gestion publique ont modifié le rapport entre représentants élus et population. De plus, des innovations institutionnelles au niveau supra-municipal ont généré un espace entre régions et municipalités permettant aux leaders locaux de développer leurs aptitudes en tant que chefs de projet et créateurs de réseaux. [source] Expectation of empowerment as a determinant of citizen participation in waste management planning1,2JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2009HIROE MAEDA Abstract:, The study investigated the determinants of citizen participation in the development of a waste management plan. It was hypothesized that people would decide whether or not to participate in the planning based on the expectation of empowerment to be gained by their participation, not on the general evaluation of citizen participation. Four hundred and twenty-four volunteers responded to a self-report mailed survey conducted in August 2001 in Nisshin City. Nisshin City was selected as a city where the municipal government was starting to develop a basic plan for waste reduction and recycling. Major findings from the survey were: (a) the direct social benefits (i.e., making a better plan by citizen participation) were the main determinant of the general evaluation of citizen participation; and (b) expectation of personal empowerment (i.e., sense of self-efficacy and solidarity) was the main determinant of behavioral intention to citizen participation. [source] Public involvement: How to encourage citizen participationJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Terri Mannarini Abstract The study was aimed at identifying the impact of a pool of variables on the willingness of the participants in five consultative arenas (Open Space Technology) to become involved in future experiences of civic engagement. The study also intended to verify whether such willingness varied among subgroups of participants. In total, 194 participants (49.5% men, 50.5% women; mean age,=,37.04) were recruited during five OSTs held in Italy between May and November 2008 and asked to fill in a questionnaire composed of the following measures: perceived costs and benefits, emotions, sense of community, trust in institutions and need for cognitive closure. Findings suggested that the setting-related variables,namely the perception of costs and benefits and the arousal of positive feelings,were more influential than the community-related variables, such as sense of community and trust in institutions. Indications and suggestions for the design, implementation and evaluation of participatory settings were discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Community social and place predictors of sense of community: A multilevel and longitudinal analysisJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2007D. Adam Long Sense of community (SOC) is empirically "unpacked" as a multilevel construct with place and social elements. SOC has been studied primarily at the individual level despite researchers acknowledging its effects at the community level. Little attention has been given to the roles of place and place attitudes in SOC. We argue that place and social are inextricably bound, and studying the impact of the social alone on community-oriented constructs like SOC constrains our ability to adequately understand such multilevel, multifaceted phenomena. The present, cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses demonstrate that SOC is intimately related to social capital (neighboring, citizen participation, collective efficacy, informal social control), communitarianism, place attachment, community confidence, and community satisfaction. Implications for community and environmental psychology theory are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 563,581, 2007. [source] Democratic Deepening in Third Wave Democracies: Experiments with Participation in Mexico CityPOLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2007Imke Harbers After the initial transition to democratic rule the question of how to improve the quality of democracy has become the key challenge facing Third Wave democracies. In the debate about the promotion of more responsive government, institutional reforms to increase direct participation of citizens in policy-making have been put on the agenda. The Federal District of Mexico City constitutes a particularly intriguing case in this debate. This article explores how political participation developed in Mexico City between 1997 and 2003 and what effects this has had on democratic deepening. It develops an ideal-type conceptual framework of citizen participation that outlines the conditions under which participation contributes to democratic deepening. Overall, the case of Mexico City highlights how the promotion of participation can fail to make the aspired contribution to democratic deepening and might even have negative effects on the quality of democracy. [source] Communitarian Citizenship and Civil DisobediencePOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 2 2001Brent L. Pickett Perhaps the most frequent criticism of communitarianism is that it is too sympathetic to community, and too hostile to individualism. It is alleged that the community and its agent, the state, are given too much power, and hence the important role of dissent is dangerously marginalized. To evaluate and respond to this criticism, this paper expounds the communitarian understanding of citizenship and addresses communitarians' critics, in part through a close reading of Charles Taylor's essay, "Atomism". Some forms of communitarianism, especially those that put an emphasis upon citizen participation, have an adequate response to the critics. Moreover, in some ways communitarianism has a better understanding of, and a more central role for, dissent and civil disobedience. [source] ,New spaces' for change?: Diamond governance reforms and the micro-politics of participation in post-war Sierra LeonePUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2010Roy Maconachie Abstract While the majority of research carried out on diamonds and development in Sierra Leone has focused on debates concerning the role that diamonds played in the country's civil war of the 1990s, little attention has been directed towards understanding how the emergence and consequences of ,new spaces' for citizen engagement in diamond governance are shaping relationships between mining and political economic change in the post-war period. Recent fieldwork carried out in two communities in Kono District illustrates how the emergence of such spaces,although much celebrated by government, donors and development practitioners,may not necessarily be creating the ,room for manoeuvre' necessary to open up meaningful public engagement in resource governance. The analysis focuses on one recent governance initiative in the diamond sector,the Diamond Area Community Development Fund (DACDF),which aims to strengthen citizen participation in decision-making within the industry, but has frequently been at the centre of controversy. In framing and articulating socio-environmental struggles over resource access and control in Sierra Leone's post-war period of transition, the article highlights how the emerging geographies of participation continue to be shaped by unequal power relationships, in turn having an impact on livelihood options, decision-making abilities and development outcomes in the country's diamondiferous communities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Reinventing government through on-line citizen involvement in the developing world: a case study of taipei city mayor's e-mail box in Taiwan,PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2006Don-Yun Chen Abstract Since the 1980s, a global administrative reform movement is reshaping the relationship between citizens and state. A major concern is how government can be more responsive to the governed through citizen participation. However, the more citizens participate, the more costly it is to govern. And the application of new information and communication technology (ICT) seems to be a cure for this limitation. In this research, authors take the Taipei City Mayor's e-mail-box (TCME) in Taiwan as a case to illustrate the complex relationships among citizen involvement, e-government and public management. After a series of empirical investigations, the authors show that although ICT can reduce the cost of citizen involvement in governing affairs, it cannot increase citizens' satisfaction with government activities without reforming the bureaucratic organisation, regulatory structure, and managerial capacities of the public sector. The results could be helpful to public managers in planning and evaluating online governmental services in the developing countries. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Local government decision-making,citizen participation and local accountability: some evidence from Kenya and UgandaPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2003Nick Devas The current fashion for decentralisation is built on the assumption that it will result in decisions that reflect local needs and priorities. Yet representative democracy, through periodic elections, is a crude mechanism for establishing these needs and priorities. Most local government systems offer few other opportunities for citizens to participate, particularly for the poor, and few mechanisms of accountability. This article reviews the literature relating local level decision-making, citizen participation and accountability. It then presents the findings of a study of decision-making about the use of resources in a sample of municipal governments in Kenya and Uganda. Local governments in Kenya have traditionally offered minimal scope for citizen participation or accountability, but this is beginning to change, mainly as a result of performance conditions applied through the recently introduced Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF), together with an increasingly active civil society. In Uganda, which has undergone a radical decentralisation, there is much greater scope for citizen participation at the local level but there are still many of the same problems of local accountability as in Kenya. The article reviews some of the examples of, and reasons for, good (and bad) practice. It concludes that factors like committed local leadership, central monitoring of performance, articulate civil society organisations and the availability of information are critical. But even with these, there is no guarantee that decentralised decision-making will be inclusive of the poor. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Citizen Participation in Budgeting TheoryPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2006Carol Ebdon Citizen participation in government budgeting processes is a topic that has received attention for many decades. Despite prescriptive exhortations to cities, research in this area has significant limitations. We identify four elements that are believed to influence the participation process. The variables within each element have received attention in the empirical literature, but no systematic effort has been made to uncover interaction effects and extend theory to make it more robust. We consider the weaknesses of our knowledge, suggest an impact model of citizen participation in budgeting, and identify hypotheses that may be tested in future research. [source] Reinventing the Democratic Governance Project through Information Technology?PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2003A Growing Agenda for Debate Postindustrial societies have arrived at a moment of immense democratic and entrepreneurial opportunities that has been made possible by information technology. At the same time, however, these opportunities pose potential threats if they are not debated and planned for in consensually,legitimate ways. This article examines the current problems of representative democracy and the impact of information technology on the current and future quality of democratic governance. Four generic models of "electronic democracy" that are made possible by interactive information Technologies,electronic bureaucracy, information management, populist, and civil society,are analyzed in terms of their applicability and impact. Information technology's impact on the roles, responsibilities, and accountability of citizens, elected representatives, the media, and corporations is also examined. This article proposes strategies for reinventing democratic governance, including recognizing community values, accommodating critical debate, and providing access for citizen participation in policy analysis. [source] New Labour's PPI Reforms: Patient and Public Involvement in Healthcare Governance?THE MODERN LAW REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Peter Vincent-Jones Following a first wave of reform at the beginning of the decade, the system of patient and public involvement in healthcare governance is being further overhauled under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 and the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The current reforms reflect a significant shift in dominant political discourse from an earlier concern with patient and public involvement towards a more exclusive focus on consumer choice and economic regulation, with collective voice and citizen participation at best playing a subordinate part in the government's NHS modernisation agenda. While there is some potential for increased responsiveness in the new arrangements, the overall effect is likely to be a weakening of the foundations of democratic decision making in the governance of healthcare in England. [source] TOWARDS A PARADIGM OF DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION: CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND CO-PRODUCTION OF PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN SWEDENANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2009Victor Pestoff ABSTRACT:,Many countries in Europe are now searching for new ways to engage citizens and involve the third sector in the provision and governance of social services in order to meet major demographical, political and economic challenges facing the welfare state in the 21st Century. Co-production provides a model for the mix of both public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provision of a public service. Citizen participation involves several different dimensions: economic, social, political and service specific. The extent of citizen participation varies between different providers of welfare services, as too does user and staff influence. Empirical materials from a recent study of childcare in Sweden will be used to illustrate these points. However, the role of citizens and the third sector also varies between countries and social sectors. Third sector providers facilitate citizen participation, while a glass ceiling for participation exists in municipal and for-profit providers. Moreover, co-production takes place in a political context, and can be crowded-in or crowded-out by public policy. These findings can contribute to the development of a new paradigm of participative democracy. [source] Co-Production and Health System Reform , From Re-Imagining To Re-MakingAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2009Roger Dunston There is growing interest in the application of citizen participation within all areas of public sector service development, where it is increasingly promoted as a significant strand of post-neoliberal policy concerned with re-imagining citizenship and more participatory forms of citizen/consumer engagement. The application of such a perspective within health services, via co-production, has both beneficial, but also problematic implications for the organisation of such services, for professional practice and education. Given the disappointing results in increasing consumer involvement in health services via ,choice' and ,voice' participation strategies, the question of how the more challenging approach of co-production will fare needs to be addressed. The article discusses the possibilities and challenges of system-wide co-production for health. It identifies the discourse and practice contours of co-production, differentiating co-production from other health consumer-led approaches. Finally, it identifies issues critically related to the successful implementation of co-production where additional theorisation and research are required. [source] Re-thinking local autonomy: Perceptions from four rural municipalitiesCANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 3 2008Benoy Jacob This article looks at how this agenda might affect smaller rural municipalities, since the assumption seems to be that one can simply re-size and re-shape policy prescriptions from urban and suburban contexts to fit rural areas. Drawing on the lessons learned from an eight-year project titled "Understanding the New Rural Economy: Options and Choices," the authors argue that autonomy is only valuable in relation to a locality's capacity to take advantage of new powers and that rural capacities are very different from those of their urban counterparts. The authors present a conceptual framework in which capacity is a dynamic and multidimensional entity of which autonomy is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition. This framework is then employed to explore four rural Canadian municipalities. This study is the first to consider traditional administrative reforms in a rural context. Employing a case-study methodology, the authors found four dimensions of capacity that may support changes to local autonomy: strategic planning, citizen participation and support, expertise, and access to revenues. Sommaire : Dirigé par les plus grandes municipalités urbaines, le programme actuel des réformes municipales au Canada met une emphase considérable sur la question de l'autonomie locale. Le présent article porte sur la manière dont ce programme pourrait avoir une incidence sur les plus petites municipalités rurales, étant donné que l'hypothèse semble être qu'il est tout simplement possible de redimensionner et refondre les prescriptions de politiques de contextes urbains et suburbains pour qu'elles s'adaptent aux régions rurales. Tirant des enseignements d'un projet sur huit ans intitulé"Comprendre la nouvelle économie rurale : options et choix" (NER), l'article prétend que l'autonomie est seulement intéressante en ce qui concerne la capacité d'une localitéà tirer parti de nouveaux pouvoirs et que les capacités rurales sont très différentes des capacités urbaines. Les auteurs présentent un cadre conceptuel où la capacité est une entité dynamique et multi-dimensionnelle dont l'autonomie est une condition nécessaire mais pas suffisante. Ce cadre est alors employé pour étudier à fond quatre municipalités rurales canadiennes. L'article est la première étude à envisager les réformes administratives traditionnelles dans un contexte rural. Ayant recours à une méthodologie d'études de cas, les auteurs ont trouvé quatre dimensions de capacité qui peuvent soutenir des changements pour l'autonomie locale : la planification stratégique, la participation et le soutien des citoyens, l'expertise et l'accès aux revenus. [source] Calling all citizens: The challenges of public consultationCANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 1 2004Keith Culver This article provides a case study of one such consultation. In the fall of 2002, the City of Saint John, faced with a sizeable budget deficit, sought public input on important fiscal decisions that had to be made before year's end. Citizens could provide their views in a traditional way - by mailing in a questionnaire to city hall - or they could submit their views electronically via the City of Saint John web site. Drawing on a wide variety of data sources, including interviews with city officials and a follow-up survey of consultation participants, the authors assess the success of this particular exercise in achieving several interrelated objectives: facilitating citizen participation in public affairs, enhancing citizens' sense of their political efficacy, providing public officials with insight into public opinion, and shaping public policy. Taking into account both consultation outcomes and the expectations of citizens and officials, the authors identity key shortfalls of the Saint John consultation, as well as avenues for constructive change in future exercises. Sommaire: L'une des maniéres dont les gouvernements ont réagi au méontentement démocratique exacerbé. qui s'est manifesté ces derniéres années a été d'accroitre la participation des citoyens au processus d'éaboration de politiques en organisant des consultations publiques à grande échelle. Le présent article ést une étude de cas portant sur une de ces consultations. À L'automne de 2002, la ville de Saint-John, faisant face à un gros déficit budgétairc, a cherchéà obtenir L'avis du public sur d'impor-tantes décisions financiéres qui devaient être prises avant la fin de L'annee. Les cito-yens avaient la possibilité de faire connaître leur opinion d'une façon traditionnelle en renvoyant un questionnaire par la poste à L'Hôtel de Ville, ou bien ils pouvaient soumettre leurs commentaires par voie électronique par L'intermédiaire du site Web de la Ville de Saint-John. À partir d'une grande variété de sources de données, y compris des entrcvues avec des responsables municipaux et un sondage de suivi auprés dcs participants a la consultation, f'étude de cas évalue le succés de cet exer-cice particulier à atteindre plusieurs objectifs interdépendants:faciliter la participation des citoyens aux affaires publiques, améliorer le sentiment d'efficacité politiquc chez les citoyens, permettre aux fonctionnaires de se faire une meilleure idée de L'opinion publiquc et façonner la politique publique. En tenant compte à la fois des résultats des consultations et des attentes des citoyens et des fonctionnaircs, nous identifions les principales lacunes de la consultation de Saint-John ainsi que les moyens d'apporter des changements constructifs aux exercices futurs. [source] The democratic deficit: Paul Martin and parliamentary reformCANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 4 2003Peter Aucoin In this article, we first examine what is required to make the reforms work according to his measures of success. We then consider why he has restricted his assault on the democratic deficit to the reform of Parliament. Third, we consider whether parliamentary reform is sufficient to address the discontents and criticisms of Canadian government that have given rise to the perceived democratic deficit. We conclude that the Martin plan, except for the review of government appointments, is sound from the perspective of representative democracy but that it will be successful in addressing the democratic deficit only to the extent that the prime minister and his reform-minded colleagues are able to convince Canadians that citizen participation in the institutional processes of reformed parliamentary government can be meaningful. Sommaire: Le projet qu'a M. Paul Martin de réformer le gouvernement parlementaire afin d'éliminer le soi-disant déficit démocratique exige une plus grande indé-pendance des députés individuels et de la Chambre des communes à l'égard du gouvemement. Dans le présent article, nous examinons tout d'abord les exigences nécessaires pour que les réformes fonctionnent selon ses mesures de succés. Nous examinons ensuite pourquoi M. Martin a restreint son attaque du déficit démocratique à la seule réforme parlementaire. Troisiémement, nous examinons si la réforme parlementaire est suffisante pour remédier aux insatisfactions et critiques envers le gouvemement canadien qui ont engendré le déficit démocratique perçu. Nous con-cluons que le plan de M. Martin, à I'exception de la revue des nominations gouveme-mentales, est solide du point de vue de la démocratie représentative. Il ne parviendra cependant à s'attaquer au déficit démocratique que dans la mesure où le Premier ministre et ses collégues soucieux de réforme seront capables de convaincre les Canadiens que la participation des citoyens aux processus institutionnels d'un gouverne-ment parlementaire réformé peut être constructive. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||