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Political Efficacy (political + efficacy)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	33%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	33%

Selected Abstracts

A Modern Paradigm for Campaign Finance: Economic Markets and Lessons from History

POLITICS & POLICY, Issue 5 2008
Seth Werfel
Campaign finance is a perennially contentious issue in American politics, with increased significance in the upcoming presidential election. Historically, legislation has attempted to balance the corrupting effects of money in politics with the Constitutional right to free speech. This article argues for a modern paradigm of market-based reform that relaxes controls on the supply of money and aims to limit the demand for private contributions. Specifically, this model introduces affordable government vouchers and secret donation booths, adapted to further expand consumer choice and increase incentives for political participation. Ultimately, applying principles of the market to campaign finance reform will enhance political efficacy and strengthen American democracy. [source]

The Condition of Community Streets and Parks: A Comparison of Resident and Nonresident Evaluations

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2005
Michael J. Licari
Practitioners and scholars are concerned that citizen surveys about community services are heavily influenced by respondents' opinions on other issues and by their sociodemographic backgrounds. We search for these biases by examining the extent to which citizen assessments of streets and parks in Iowa communities match the assessments of a nonresident. The citizens' ratings correlate significantly with the nonresident's ratings, indicating that citizen evaluations are not entirely the product of other influences. However, further analysis reveals some bias. In particular, streets are rated higher in wealthy towns, towns high in political efficacy, and towns where residents rate government services good overall. Parks are rated higher in towns where people come together to solve problems and in towns where people rate government services good overall. Even with these biases, our research indicates that citizen evaluations convey reasonably accurate information about the condition of community streets and parks. [source]

Efficacy and Estrangement: Effects of Voting

ANALYSES OF SOCIAL ISSUES & PUBLIC POLICY, Issue 1 2009
Justin D. Hackett
This study examined changes in political efficacy and feelings of estrangement as a function of voting behavior in the 2008 presidential election in the U.S. Participants (n = 224), recruited from an online marketing company's representative panel of U.S. adults, completed a survey 4-6 weeks before the election and again 2-4 weeks after the election. Changes in internal and external political efficacy and feelings of estrangement were examined for three groups of voters (McCain voters, Obama voters, and non-voters) as well as by party affiliation. Internal political efficacy was and remained relatively high among Obama and McCain voters pre-election to post-election, but decreased for non-voters. Among Democrats, there was a significant increase in internal political efficacy, among Republicans, there was no change, and among those with no or a different party affiliation, there was a significant decrease. External political efficacy significantly increased pre-election to post-election among Obama voters and non-voters, but decreased for McCain voters. Additionally, post-election cultural estrangement was significantly higher among non-voters than voters. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications for understanding the potential impact of different forms of political participation. Several of the specific and distinctive aspects of the 2008 election and President Obama's campaign are also highlighted as they relate to voting behavior and potential changes in the American electorate. [source]

Calling all citizens: The challenges of public consultation

CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 1 2004
Keith 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]

A Conceptual Definition and Theoretical Model of Public Deliberation in Small Face,to,Face Groups

COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 4 2002
Stephanie Burkhalter
Although scholars have begun to study face,to,face deliberation on public issues, "deliberation" has no clear conceptual definition and only weak moorings in larger theories. To address these problems, this essay integrates diverse philosophical and empirical works to define deliberation and place it in a broader theoretical context. Public deliberation is a combination of careful problem analysis and an egalitarian process in which participants have adequate speaking opportunities and engage in attentive listening or dialogue that bridges divergent ways of speaking and knowing. Placed in the meta,theoretical framework of structuration theory (Giddens, 1984), deliberation is theorized to exist at the center of a homeostatic loop, in which deliberative practice reinforces itself. A review of theory and research on the causes and effects of deliberation leads us to develop this structurational conceptualization into the self,reinforcing model of deliberation. This model posits that public deliberation is more likely to occur when discussion participants perceive potential common ground, believe deliberation is an appropriate mode of talk, possess requisite analytic and communication skills, and have sufficient motivation. Deliberation directly reinforces participants' deliberative habits and skills, and it indirectly promotes common ground and motivation by broadening participants' public identities and heightening their sense of political efficacy. [source]