Citizen Participation In Local Government Research Articles

Strengthening Resilience: Social Responsibility and Citizen Participation in Local Governance

The concept of resilience has gained significant prominence across various disciplines, particularly in the context of regional development. Specifically, the Social Responsibility of Local Public Administrations (SRLPA) may play a significant role in fostering resilient territories. This study proposes a second-order model utilizing Structural Equation Modeling—Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) to investigate the complex relationships between the SRLPA and citizen participation in municipal affairs. The proposed model comprises six dimensions for the SRLPA: good governance values, efficiency, transparency, economic issues, environmental concerns, and socio-labor matters. One of the primary contributions of this study is the development and operationalization of a scale designed to measure the construct of the SRLPA. Additionally, empirical analysis shows that the relationship between the SRLPA and citizen participation is indirect. Instead, SRLPA exerts its influence through two mediating variables: citizen connection with the municipality and the perceived bond with the local government. The findings suggest that to positively impact citizen participation, the SRLPA must strengthen relationships with citizens, thereby enhancing their engagement in municipal affairs.

Vietnamese Citizen Participation in Local Governance

Local governance is characterized by the interaction between government agencies and people in the local social management process, in which people are encouraged to actively play a part in government management activities as regulated by laws. This study addresses the people's rights to directly and indirectly participate in local governance activities in Vietnam. A survey of 360 people from 4 localities representing three regions of Vietnam, including Thai Binh province, Hung Yen province (Northern region), Quang Binh province (Central region), Ca Mau province (Northern region) was conducted to evaluate citizen participation in governance activities of commune-level authorities. The results show that the citizen participation in local governance activities do exist, but are limited to the direct participation. To some extent, the people also have rights to self-determine local issues on infrastructure construction and public welfare projects with their own contributions; however, their self-development of programs and projects and proposals to local authorities for implementation has not been clearly demonstrated. These findings suggest expanding the people's rights to participate in local governance activities as innovations for the improvement local governance effectiveness.

The Decentralised Governance in Kenya: Implications on Citizen Participation in the Local Governance

Abstract This study sought to examine the extent to which decentralisation efforts have affected citizen participation in local governance in Kenya. Survey research designs was employed. 371 questionnaires were administered and 16 interview conducted with key stakeholders. The findings revealed that decentralisation influences citizen participation in devolved Governance. 77.3% of the respondents agreed decentralization had promoted political entrepreneurship while 75% contended that decentralization had influenced citizen participation in development of policies and legislation. Moreover, 57.2% of the respondents felt that citizen participation in decentralized policy-making was high while 69% of the respondents were satisfied that decentralization had made it possible for citizens to participate in county budgeting. Only 49% approved the effectiveness of decentralization in promoting citizen participation in participatory budgeting and planning process. The national and county governments should put in place measures to safeguard the independence of the counties in realizing the objective of citizen participation in governance.

Under the banner of heritage conservation: The gentrification of dilapidated low-income neighborhoods in the Daming Palace Protection and Renovation Project

Understanding the dynamics and implications of urban redevelopment projects, particularly in the context of China's rapid urbanization, could inform sustainable and inclusive urban development strategies. This abstract provides an overview of the Daming Palace Protection and Renovation Project (DPPRP). Unlike other redevelopment projects that prioritize economic benefits, the DPPRP is predominantly driven by political interests, with cultural and economic factors playing supporting roles. As part of the broader integrated conservation and redevelopment program, the DPPRP holds political significance, and its implementation demonstrates clear state involvement, led by the local government. The response from residents reflects the failure of China's attempts to promote citizen participation in local governance, suggesting challenges even for participatory authoritarianism. These developments have negative implications for Chinese citizens' pursuit of their right to the city, hindering their ability to shape urban spaces and participate meaningfully in decision-making processes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the Daming Palace Protection and Renovation Project (DPPRP) in China, providing insights for policymakers and urban planners to enhance the effectiveness and inclusivity of urban redevelopment projects.

Renegotiating Citizen Participation in Local Governance in Africa. The Case of Cameroon

In most African countries, political liberation was supported by spontaneous people’s movements and various constellations of civil society. The post-independent era witnessed the introduction of a one-party system, which fundamentally curtailed these freedoms which were at the centre of the decolonial debate in Africa. The liberal market ideology that pervaded economic and political spaces after 1990 heralded alternatives for civil society to self-organize for political change in the continent. In the Economic Commission for Central African States (ECCAS), the legislative framework for citizen participation in local governance processes and structures encountered steep resistance from political elites. However, exogenous factors, together with home-grown citizen initiatives to advance the well-being of the people, emerged. In post-independent Cameroon, citizen participation in local governance processes was shaped by the rigid political and, subsequently, economic systems that the country experienced. With the demise of the bipolar World, people fashioned different places of engagement through civil society spaces where expectations and conceptions of civic involvement were developed and articulated. This policy paper analyses the regulatory framework for civil society participation in local governance in the ECCAS sub-region. It also examines citizen participation in local governance processes and structures in Cameroon. The paper identifies key challenges inhibiting citizens from freely engaging in civic activities in the country and presents some policy directions ECCAS and the state of Cameroon need to take to facilitate the effective involvement of citizens in the associational life of the sub-region and of Cameroon.

Citizens' Awareness and Dissemination of Local Government Unit (LGU) Processes in General Santos City

This study examined citizen awareness of Local Government Unit (LGU) processes and their dissemination in General Santos City. The primary objectives are to identify gaps in awareness, uncover dissemination challenges, and propose improvement recommendations. A descriptive correlational research design was used, with quantitative data gathered from 390 randomly selected respondents across 26 barangays. Structured questionnaires measured awareness on a 5-point Likert scale and dissemination on a 4-point Likert scale. Findings indicate high awareness of basic services and facilities, land management, and revenue generation. Dissemination effectiveness was rated moderately high. The study found significant positive correlations between dissemination extent and citizen awareness, with strong correlations for basic services and moderate correlations for land reclassification and revenue generation. These positive correlations suggest a promising potential for improvement. The study concludes that improving the dissemination of LGU processes is crucial for fostering informed, engaged communities. Recommendations include targeted, community-specific, and technology-driven communication strategies to enhance transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in local governance. These improvements are essential for more effective and responsive governance in General Santos City. The implications of this study suggest that enhancing dissemination practices can lead to better-informed citizens, promoting greater civic engagement and trust in local government.

Assessment of Village Readiness for Electronic Citizen Complaint Services (e-AduMas) Using COBIT 4.1

The objective of this study is to investigate the implementation of the electronic community complaint service, known as e-AduMas, in villages utilizing SMS Gateway and GSM network technologies. The research aims to evaluate both the technological readiness of village offices using COBIT 4.1 and the community's acceptance of the e-AduMas system. The study employs a comprehensive research methodology that includes the analysis of community needs, the design of the e-AduMas system, the development of an integrated SMS Gateway application with the village government platform, and field testing involving active participation from the village community. Data will be collected through surveys, interviews, and observations to assess the level of implementation success, user response, and technical feasibility. The anticipated outcomes of this research include practical guidance for other villages looking to construct similar systems to enhance citizen participation in local governance. This study is poised to make a significant contribution to the application of technology in village governance, specifically in the development and utilization of the e-AduMas service. The findings of this research are expected to provide valuable insights for strengthening citizen engagement in local governance through innovative technological solutions.

Towards Interactive Governance: Embedding Citizen Participation in Local Government

In this article, we explore the embedding of citizen participation in local government. Our study combines and synthesizes the focal aspects of two theoretical streams—citizen participation and interactive governance—in a novel way to identify, illustrate, and analyze the layers of governance required for citizen participation. The analysis shows how the institutional pervasiveness and holistic nature of citizen participation affects the strategic, executive, and citizen interface layers of governance and their interconnections. The research contributes to the literature on embedding citizen participation in government by emphasizing the need to address citizen participation as a profound question of governance and management.

Decentralised Governance in Kenya: Implications on Citizen Participation in Local Governance.

This study sought to examine the extent to which decentralisation efforts have affected citizen participation in local governance in Kenya. A survey research design that integrated a mixed-method approach was employed to collect data. The study used Krejcie and Morgan's table to select a sample size of 371 respondents from four counties for the questionnaire instrument. The purposive sampling technique was used to select 16 interview respondents, including critical institutions and organisations in the field. The findings revealed that decentralisation influences citizen participation in local governance. 77.3% of the respondents agreed that decentralisation had promoted political entrepreneurship, while 75% contended that decentralisation had influenced citizen participation in developing policies and legislation. Moreover, 57.2% of the respondents felt that citizen participation in decentralised policy-making was high, while 69% were satisfied that decentralisation had made it possible for citizens to participate in county budgeting. However, only 49% approved the effectiveness of decentralisation in promoting citizen participation in promoting participatory budgeting and planning process. Therefore, the study recommends that the national and county governments put in place measures to safeguard the independence of the counties in realising the objective of citizen participation in local governance.

Study on Citizen Participation in Local Governance in Vietnam

Abstract Reform to establish a democratic, citizen-centered government is an important orientation in the world and in Vietnam today. For Vietnam, how to promote and strengthen democratic governance must be one of the most crucial issues in order to achieve sustainable development goals. Based on the theoretical framework and survey results, this study evaluates citizen participation in local governance in Vietnam on seven main dimensions, including: (i) Transparency aims to ensure citizens’ right to know; (ii) Participation in elections; (iii) Outlining of policy initiatives; (iv) Policy discussion, social criticism and referendums; (v) Voluntary contributions and cooperation with the government in public-service delivery; (vi) Social self-governance; (vii) Supervision of the social realm. Research shows that the dominance of local government is very evident in the process of citizen participation. The policy implications for countries in transition like Vietnam are that, in order to increase citizen participation in local governance, the openness of local government should be enhanced. Of course, doing this well needs a certain social basis.

A proposed citizen participation–public trust model in the context of service delivery protests in South African local government

The South African local government context has been marred by persistent citizen protests that continue to jeopardise public administrators’ quest for effective service rendering. Such protests have been attributed to the disregard of citizen participation in local government and unresponsive service rendering, amongst other factors. Meaningful citizen participation is seen as a precondition for the establishment of trust between communities and public administrators. This article, delving into the empirical literature, presents a citizen participation and public trust model aimed at minimising service delivery protests in South Africa. It argues that whilst lack of community trust has been lauded as one of the factors that have brewed citizen protests over the years, there is evidence to show that between the core values of procedural justice and public trust, citizen perception of power to influence may be vital to minimise proclivity to protest. The article finds that in addition to the interactional and informational justice components of procedural justice, meaningful citizen participation can be measured as a combination of these justice areas with mechanisms that highlight citizens’ positive perceptions of their power to influence decisions. As recommendations, the article argues that indeed lack of community involvement in municipal processes has the potential to break down trust and explode into service delivery protests. However, the article concludes that ensuring meaningful participation in local government decision-making processes, as defined in this article, is a precondition for building community trust and limiting the outbreak of service delivery protests in the local government context.

Pathways to Citizen Participation: Participatory Budgeting Policy Choice by Local Governments

The existing literature on participatory budgeting - as one means of citizen participation in local governance - tends to focus on how to stimulate citizen participation in the budget process, and primarily aims to descriptively explain the magnitude of participation or the adoption of specific policy approaches. We investigate participatory budgeting from an institutional perspective and empirically evaluate the choices that local governments make in adopting a specific set of rules for including citizens in the budget process. We suggest that the choice of the type of participatory budgeting policy is predicated on the partisanship of policymakers, the administrative capacity of local government, and citizen's experience with other forms of direct democracy. To test these hypotheses, we collect information on 224 local governments in South Korea from 2004 to 2013. For each city, we identify the type of participatory budgeting policy they adopt and evaluate that choice in an empirical model. The results provide evidence that the partisanship of local policymakers and the administrative capacity of the local government are associated with different choices about the inclusion of citizens in the budget process.

English

The purpose of this paper is to unpack the extent to which citizen participation has been enhanced in local governance in Zimbabwe. The paper points out that citizen participation in local governance have proved to be of significance to all decision-making processes. Legislative provisions guiding citizen participation in local governance in Zimbabwe are prescribed in the Urban Councils’ Act of 1996 which seeks to involve citizens, through Residents Associations and other institutions. In addition, sections of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which provide for citizen participation were given in the paper. The author concluded that the commandist approach to governance, a mind-set of the liberation movement, has spoiled citizen participation in Zimbabwe.    Key words: Democracy, local governance, participatory democracy, participatory space, third world states. &nbsp

Gender Differences of Citizen Participation in Local Government: The Case of Vietnam

Citizen participation has been largely considered as an important objective of improving democracy and government decision-making in Vietnam recently. Based on the dataset of the Public Administration Performance Index Survey data (PAPI), Vietnamese women tend to actively participate in local government rather than men do. Hence, this study aims to explore distinct factors affect gender differences of citizen participation in local government in Vietnam. Applying qualitative approach through in-depth interview, besides objective factors such as political institutions, policy environment, and social networking, this article finds out some subjective major factors influencing citizen participation such as belief of people, educational level, age, sex, household conditions. Furthermore, this study also identifies three crucial reasons that leading to the differences of citizen participation at the local level between women and men in the context of Vietnam including political attitudes and interests, role in family, and the role of mass organizations.

Corruption and citizen participation in local government: Evidence from Latin America

Prior research indicates that corruption hampers economic growth and imposes high social costs. From the perspective of democratic theory, corruption does not just violate the fiduciary obligations with which the public entrusts government officials; it has detrimental effects on the legitimacy of the democratic process as a whole. If citizens view their government as corrupt and dishonest, they become cynical about political life, and as a result, they are less likely to participate in democratic governance. This article examines the effect of corruption—measured through both perception and experience—on citizen participation in local government. Using data from the AmericasBarometer survey on the new democracies in Latin America, we test whether the withdrawal effects registered in terms of participation in elections hold for the participation in city administration. The results show that citizens' willingness to participate in local governance relates positively with their experience of corruption, but not with their perception of corruption.

Количественный анализ факторов, влияющих на участие граждан в местном самоуправлении. Пример Еревана

The purpose of this research was to identify the key factors affecting active citizen participation in local governance and understand the extent to which each of them affects the potential participation. A survey was conducted among 1004 citizens of Yerevan to reveal the main characteristics of those who were for and against active participation, their attitudes towards certain types of participation, as well as the reasons for not participating. The questions included in the questionnaire resulted in an input of both dependent and independent variables (predictors). Raw data were processed through Microsoft Excel and then imported into SPSS 20.0 software. Collected primary source data were used to build a binary logistic regression model. The 0.353 value of Nagelkerke R2, which characterizes the predictive power of the logistic regression, may be considered a significant result for analyses in social sciences. The models also revealed individual relationships between potential citizen participation and some specific variables that might enable local authorities to carry out more targeted and effective policies in terms of participatory governance. Disclosure of such relationships can be useful not only for ensuring active participation of citizens in local governance, but also in terms of contribution both to the theory and practice of public administration.

Exploring Performance Management in Italian Local Government: The Necessity of Outcome Measures and Citizen Participation

The purpose of this article is to identify what internal and external factors increase the probability of local officials actually using performance data for decision making within Italian local government, responding to one of the basic questions of performance management theory. Based on a sample of local governments from the Apulia region, we used an ordinary least squares regression model to show that local officials are more likely to engage in performance data use when they rely on input, output, and outcome measures and when they increase the level of citizen participation. While the reliance on more advanced performance measures clearly builds on previous research, our study represents one of the few studies that demonstrates a statistically significant relationship between performance management and citizen participation in local government. We conclude from our findings that we cannot forget about basic performance measurement and external stakeholder involvement as scholars continue to push the boundaries of performance management theory.

Conflicting perceptions on participation between citizens and members of local government

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.

Проблемы совершенствования государственной политики в сфере местного самоуправления в условиях трансформации политической системы России

After many years of deadlock, the local government is looking for further development in the Russian Federation. Some results have been achieved on the development of local government in more than twenties years under Russian conditions. However, there is some controversy of public policy for local government and also there is the mixed approach of realization of public policy at all levels of public authority. In this case the State policy must be built on the understanding that the local government is the basis for creation of civil society in Russia and it is a “locomotive” of the democratic and legal development. The article analyses the issue of improvement of the local government and proposes systematic tools of its development through the policies of the government. Improving the legal framework for local government in the 2014-2016. It has made certain adjustments to the solution of practical problems of municipal practices. The legal basis of local self-government at both the federal and regional levels are characterized by sufficiently developed and in general allow us to solve the challenges facing local government. In order to ensure stability of legislation, further changes should be primarily competence in nature. Particular attention should be given to further clarify the powers of local authorities in sectoral legislation, such as the exclusion of functions unusual for local authorities, the coordination of local government powers to local issues, the list of issues of local importance of rural settlements, taking into account emerging in the regions of the Russian Federation, sustainable approaches to their complement ), as well as the operating time of the positive powers of redistribution practices. Of particular note is the problem of citizen participation in local government, where the key potential has territorial self-government. Despite the unevenness of development in different regions, TOS is an effective tool for engaging citizens in local self-government, improve the activity of the inhabitants. However, in the long term in the legislative resolution of other issues need arising at a local level and are part of the state policy in the sphere of local self-government in terms of further transformation of Russia's political system.

The Study on Determinants of Citizen Participation in Local Government: Focusing on Moderating Effects of Communication between Citizen and Elected Institutions

The Study on Determinants of Citizen Participation in Local Government: Focusing on Moderating Effects of Communication between Citizen and Elected Institutions