Accountable Autonomy: Toward Empowered Deliberation in Chicago Schools and Policing

Abstract

In 1988 and 1995, the Chicago Public Schools and Police Department implemented governance reforms that dramatically increase opportunities for citizen engagement in neighborhoods, devolve operational authority to those in individual police beats and school councils, and create deliberative local planning processes. This article conceptualizes these arrangements as an accountable autonomy. Local groups of public officials and citizens are autonomous by virtue of their authority to set public goals, develop strategies to reach those, and then implement those strategies. This autonomy, however, is not license. Local groups should be held accountable by central administrators and the general public for both the democratic quality of their decision processes and their operational effectiveness. The paper explores the degree to which the two reformed Chicago institutions approximate accountable autonomy and potentials for enhancing civic participation and public problem solving. Surprisingly, residents of poor neighborhoods participate at rates equal to or greater than those from wealthy ones. Participation rates across neighborhoods are generally high enough to sustain deliberative problem-solving activity. In some neighborhoods, deliberation between citizens and local officials has yielded innovative strategies that neither group would likely have developed on its own.