Bureaucratic Enfranchisement under the Community Development Block Grant Program

Abstract

Bureaucratic enfranchisement refers to the formal representation of a constituency within the policy implementation process. The focus of this paper is on the participation of lower income people in policymaking under the federal Community Development Block Gram (CDBG) program. A scheme for measuring bureaucratic enfranchisement disaggregates the term into the dimensions of mode, representation field, and scope. Participation in nine cities is assessed according to these dimensions. The conclusion is that the extent of bureaucratic-enfranchisement is quite variable and dependent on the discretion of local officials. The ability of communities to influence government decisions is most significantly limited by the narrow scope of governmental power relative to the private sector in the United States.