Citizen Participation In Policymaking Research Articles

Does citizen participation make public servants more satisfied with their jobs? It depends on whether they are Spectators or Participants

AbstractIs citizen participation in policymaking and implementation desirable? Numerous studies have explored its effects on policy outcomes and citizen attitudes. We, instead, examine its effects on public servants. Citizen participation changes public sector job characteristics and thus potentially job attitudes. Looking at job satisfaction, we argue that citizen participation negatively affects public servants who observe, but do not participate in citizen participation initiatives in their institution's decisions (“Spectators”), yet not public servants who are “Participants.” “Participants” learn to appreciate the benefits of citizen participation while minimizing its cost. Survey data from public servants in one developing country, Bangladesh, provides empirical support.

Achieving carbon neutrality in China: Legal and policy perspectives

China has committed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. However, this task is considerably difficult. To meet its carbon neutrality commitments, China will rely on a range of policies and laws. By analyzing policies and laws issued at the central and local levels in China from 2019 to the present, we assessed how the Chinese government will achieve its carbon neutrality targets by breaking them down. The results of this study showed that: 1) Carbon neutrality targets are translated into indicators such as energy consumption per unit of GDP, carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP, non-fossil energy consumption ratio, forest cover, and forest stock; 2) The focus of policy and law-making is on the role of the government rather than the carbon market; 3) The central government tends to promote and guide low-carbon development through specific actions; 4) Local policy and law-making is less proactive and is influenced by localism; 5) Overall, China’s carbon neutrality policies and laws are characterized by comprehensive coverage, with emphasis on the rational use of executive power and the development of low-carbon-related technologies; and 6) The existing policies and laws remain unclear, with low levels of legislation and insufficient public participation. This paper puts forward some suggestions on the introduction of the climate change law, the promotion of citizen participation in policy-making and implementation, and the establishment of a public interest litigation system on climate change.

Digitalization of Political Participation of Citizens of the European Union as an Tool to Overcome the Democratic Deficit

The article carried out a comprehensive study of the potential, opportunities and prospects for digitalization of the political participation of citizens of the European Union as a tool to overcome the deficit of democracy. It has been established that the semantic markers of the process of digitalization of political participation are associated with the goal of overcoming the deficit of democracy in the EU and can be defined through a set of principles: human-centrism; solidarity and inclusion; freedom of choice; political participation in the democratic process at all levels; safety; constancy. It is proved that overcoming the deficit of democracy with the help of digitalization tools of political participation has clearly shown the risks and dangers of a digital divide that deepens politically significant cleavages: economically developed regions of the EU – economically depressed regions of the EU; access to a secure digital environment – lack of access to a secure digital environment. The active development of the Internet infrastructure in the EU has not significantly affected the simplification of access for older people, citizens with a lower level of education and citizens with disabilities to e-democracy digital platforms, therefore ensuring the widest possible access to e-participation platforms is a promising direction for EU policy. At the same time, EU policy efforts to increase citizen participation in policymaking should not be based solely on Internet strategies, but should increase the credibility and legitimacy of EU institutions in the economically less developed regions of a united Europe. Using the SWOT analysis method of e-participation tools in the EU, it is substantiated that the European Citizens' Initiative, the European Parliamentary Platform and the advisory petition platform “Your Voice in Europe” have a certain “parity” in the ratio of strengths and weaknesses for each of these tools. Weaknesses and threats can be leveled due to the development of their capabilities in the medium term. In particular, the potential of e-participation tools lies in enhancing the flexibility and convenience of the respective digital platforms; development and implementation of strategies for competitive mobilization and involvement of citizens; detailing the processing of proposals after their acceptance; summarizing and analyzing the data contained in the petitions; creation of a multi-level system of petitions, allowing to correlate local, national and European interests; deployment of discursive interaction between citizens and EU institutions at all stages of using e-participation tools; formalization of the connection between the processes of participation and decision-making. It has been established that the prospects for deepening the process of digitalization of political participation as a tool to overcome the deficit of democracy are determined by the formed request for all the variability of forms of political participation in the EU policy space, which is directly related to the deployment of the public space of European politics and the functional approval of the institution of European citizenship.

Educational strategies to encourage participation in health policy for nurses: A systematic review

ObjectivesTo identify evidence on the types of educational interventions that have been developed to encourage participation in health policy for nurses and on the effectiveness of these interventions. DesignA systematic literature review. Data sourcesSix electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, CINAHL, Web of Science, and SCOPUS) were searched. Review methodsAll qualitative and quantitative studies on educational interventions developed to encourage participation in health policy for nurses were included in this study. Two researchers independently reviewed each article for inclusion and assessed the eligibility of the studies. The effects of educational interventions were analyzed through a thematic synthesis for the qualitative studies and data tabulation for the quantitative studies. A comprehensive framework of educational strategies to encourage participation in health policy was developed based on three stages of citizen participation in policy-making. ResultsSeven articles were selected for the review: four quantitative studies and three qualitative studies. In all studies that confirmed the educational effect through quantitative design, statistically significant improvement in students' competency on policy participation was observed. In the qualitative study, it was possible to mainly confirm the students' positive feelings toward policy participation education, and three themes were derived: expanding the perspective of policy, understanding the actual feature of policymakers, and improving the possibility of policy participation. The education strategies were synthesized into six types, which were divided into three stages according to the level of citizen participation in policy-making: Listener, Observer, Twitterian, Analyst and Speaker, Interviewer, and Contributor. ConclusionEducation on health policy increases the competency and interest of nurses concerning policy participation. We propose systematic policy education according to the policy participation stage. To realize this, nursing educators should secure faculty with relevant expertise and develop a verified curriculum.

The evaluation of citizen participation in policymaking: Insights from Portugal

While citizen participation in policymaking is on the rise worldwide, the scholarly debate centring around its evaluation has not developed to the same extent. The article discusses the methodology and findings of the evaluation of the project “Portugal Participa: Caminhos para a Inovação Societal” which started at the end of 2014, and was implemented in 2015 and 2016, in Portugal. As the project promoted actions at both national and local levels, the evaluation accounted for both layers with a major focus on the analysis of procedures and outputs to examine its success. Through the application of a multi-method approach – data collection and analysis, cost-effectiveness assessment, interviews, pre-post surveys, and counterfactual focus groups – involving a wide array of agents – political representatives, civil servants, NGOs, citizens, national academia, and the funding sponsor – findings have helped retrieve three main insights that aim to contribute to future research on the evaluation of citizen participation in policymaking, which should shed light on: the (re)connection of multiple agents; the role within the governance systems; and the pursuit of social inclusion.

New and emerging data forms in transportation planning and policy: Opportunities and challenges for “Track and Trace” data

High quality, reliable data and robust models are central to the development and appraisal of transportation planning and policy. Although conventional data may offer good ‘content’, it is widely observed that it lacks context i.e. who and why people are travelling. Transportation modelling has developed within these boundaries, with implications for the planning, design and management of transportation systems and policy-making. This paper establishes the potential of passively collected GPS-based “Track & Trace” (T&T) datasets of individual mobility profiles towards enhancing transportation modelling and policy-making. T&T is a type of New and Emerging Data Form (NEDF), lying within the broader ‘Big Data’ paradigm, and is typically collected using mobile phone sensors and related technologies. These capture highly grained mobility content and can be linked to the phone owner/user behavioural choices and other individual context. Our meta-analysis of existing literature related to spatio-temporal mobile phone data demonstrates that NEDF’s, and in particular T&T data, have had little mention to date within an applied transportation planning and policy context. We thus establish there is an opportunity for policy-makers, transportation modellers, researchers and a wide range of stakeholders to collaborate in developing new analytic approaches, revise existing models and build the skills and related capacity needed to lever greatest value from the data, as well as to adopt new business models that could revolutionise citizen participation in policy-making. This is of particular importance due to the growing awareness in many countries for a need to develop and monitor efficient cross-sectoral policies to deliver sustainable communities.

User-Involved Design for Direct Citizen Participation in Policymaking

This research attempts to identify the adaptive values and conditions shared by user-involved design (UID) and direct citizen participation (DCP) in a policymaking context. As a conceptual embarkation point, this research will help bring design values to participatory policymaking. A deductive content analysis of the relevant literature was conducted to extract, group and compare the respective requirements of DCP and UID. These requirements were then classified by function, objective and domain and finally categorized into common ground, adaptive values and adaptive conditions. The common ground belongs to both DCP and UID and is concerned with sensitizing the participants to achieve basic understanding. The adaptive values, which are distinct requirements of UID, promote generative thinking. The adaptive conditions, which emerged from specific context of DCP, require a democratic process and promote citizen awareness. The research’s main contribution is in identifying the conceptual values and conditions for applying participatory design methods and approaches to the public policy context.

Measuring citizen participation in urban regeneration: a reflection on the construction of the participation index for the Bip/Zip programme in Lisbon

Abstract Citizen participation in policymaking has become a worldwide key reference for the design and implementation of urban regeneration. Despite the growing rate of participatory processes, little evidence or scientific debate has been fostered on their measurement and, broadly speaking, evaluation. While challenges in providing robust evaluations are related to the difficulties in providing common definitions of citizen participation in policymaking, the limited sharing of theories and evidence compromises a more comprehensive understanding of the socio-political phenomenon. The article contributes to this topic by discussing the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the participation index for the Bip/ Zip programme. Since 2011, the programme has tackled socio-spatial inequalities in 67 priority areas of Lisbon by funding local partnerships composed of local associations, NGOs, and parish governments committed to engaging local communities in the development of their activities. The participation index will be formulated from the convergence of data collected through quantitative and qualitative methods on the constitution of partnerships, the implementation of initiatives, and the provision of public funding. The discussion provides critical reflection upon opportunities and challenges of the ongoing process from the academic and policy sides, which can positively stimulate future research on the topic.

Participatory budgets in Brazil and Portugal: comparing patterns of dissemination

ABSTRACT The dissemination of citizen participation in policymaking has increased considerably worldwide, as in the case of participatory budgeting, considered as the best-known democratic innovation in this field of study and practice. In order to share empirical knowledge about participatory budgets, the article provides a comparative analysis of patterns of dissemination in Brazil and Portugal. These countries were selected for being paradigmatic cases in the dissemination of participatory budgets. The comparative analysis of sociopolitical contexts and institutional designs sheds light on similarities and differences on democratic frameworks, political and non-political agents, target public, approach to participation, and main goals. Findings point to similarities in the passage from the dictatorial to the democratic regime in both countries, and differences in the role of political parties and social agents behind the dissemination. It is within such sociopolitical contexts that non-associated citizens are the target of participatory budgets in both countries, although they are differently approached because address different goals.

CIVIL PARTICIPATION AS A NECESSITY OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

Civic participation is a very important aspect of democratic governance. In general terms, civic participation means the effort of citizens to take into account their concerns, needs, values and expectations in decision-making processes. Citizen participation in policy development and development programs is really feasible to achieve a two-way communication between citizens and offices and state employees at the central and local level. In order for a citizen’s participation to be healthy and effective, it is always required that the government process be open to participation of citizens, state offices, central and local government bodies as well as transparent, and persistent citizens. Citizens should be well informed about the role they can play, their rights and obligations in the quality of their partner with governing institutions. This paper aims to address the need for a democratic system for citizen participation in policy-making and non-visa policy processes.

A webometric approach to policy analysis and management using exponential random graph models

Many studies have examined citizen participation in policymaking and its delivery mechanisms through social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, but few have explored empirical strategies to investigate the nature of online citizen participation in the field of policy analysis and management. The webometric approach is a quantitative tool for capturing network-based intercommunication derived from the Web 2.0 sphere as user-generated content by using diverse methods in informetrics. By applying this approach to examine citizen participation on social media, this study introduces an empirical strategy for collecting data on social media tools used by governments and identifies patterns of citizens’ e-participation and relationships between citizens, governments, and various organizations involved in policymaking processes through social media. The results based on the 311 service platforms of New York City and San Francisco suggest that the webometric approach can not only extract government agencies’ communication behaviors toward others on social media but also capture the overall network structure, the pattern of interactions between participants, and network properties of participants.

Incentives to Promote Green Citizenship in UK Transition Towns

Amy Merritt and Tristan Stubbs examine the challenges of promoting environmental citizenship in the UK. Citizen participation in policymaking is receiving greater attention from politicians, academics, and citizens. However, due to political and institutional barriers and a lack of resources, citizens face real challenges in their engagement. They explore the legislative parameters of localism in the UK by charting the Transition Town movement's contribution to locally driven sustainability.

Resolving Forest Property Rights Disputes in China: The Bailian Case

Millions of forest property rights disputes have occurred in the course of collective forest tenure reform in contemporary rural China. Although most disputes were settled, some developed into serious, violent conflicts. This article examines such a case in Bailian Town, Fujian Province. Findings suggest that there were three essential factors in the failure of dispute resolution efforts in Bailan: lack of trust and collaboration between citizens and government; lack of channels for citizen participation in policymaking and dispute resolution; and lack of neutral and professional third‐party mediation. The Chinese government is now taking steps to innovate, strengthen and professionalize the country's conflict resolution system in order to address such limitations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Urban governance and health development in León, Nicaragua

This paper describes the development of a “healthy municipality” initiative in León, Nicaragua's second largest city, in 1995, and of the innovations in local governance that preceded it - especially the partnerships that local government developed with the university, bilateral agencies and the long-established urban social movement. The healthy municipality initiative helped bind and mobilize support for the already established partnerships set up to address poverty and health and environmental problems. The emphasis has been on building the capacity of urban social movements to interact with local government in the process of policy-making. After first discussing why participation and good governance are so central to “healthy cities”, the paper describes the specific conditions which fostered the participatory approach in León, and the difficulties faced - especially an unresponsive central government. The paper also analyzes the process of citizen participation in policy-making and the contents and results of the programme. León and its surrounds were also severely affected by the recent hurricane Mitch - and the paper describes how important the existing local capacity and the healthy municipality initiative proved in addressing the immediate needs of communities during and after the emergency.

The Chief Educational Officer in Comparative Perspective

These events are rooted in the larger theoretical concerns of elite versus mass control of public life. The inherent tension between bureaucracy and citizen participation in policy-making, a familiar aspect of democratic politics in all nations, extends to education as well. That tension permits no simple or permanent answer to the question, Who governs? Rather, episodic changes in a society's environment give new stimulus to this bureaucracy-citizen interaction, thereby causing new power relationships to emerge. Similarly, the professional imperative to define its working conditions and service standards (increasingly an ingredient in contemporary bureaucracy)2 has clashed with citizen involvement. Further, educational administration has known periods in which professional dominance has clashed with citizen opposition. Such citizen interaction has consequences for the role of both bureaucrat and professional across different eras; for example, the shift from patronage to merit in selecting both types has stemmed from changes in public standards for the keepers of sovereignty.

Citizen Participation in Policy-Making: The Role of the Jury

S TUDENTS OF THE JUDICIAL PROCESS have, in recent years, focused considerable attention upon the role of the courts in the policymaking arena. question no longer one of determining whether courts make but how they perform this task. As Glendon Schubert has put it, The basic assumption of most of the contemporary public law literature is that judges are policy-makers, just like Presidents and congressmen and many administrators. As this remark suggests, the principal thrust, and understandably so, of the research into the policy-making function of the courts has been to examine the role of judges. It the purpose of this article to contribute to a broadening of the scope of inquiry in the field of judicial policy-making through an investigation of the manner in which petit juries participate in the formulation of public policy. central concern of the article the nature of jury policymaking, involving an analysis of the various ways in which such policy-making manifested, and the description of a conceptual framework for the political analysis of the jury. It first necessary, however, to consider whether it appropriate to employ the appellation policy to describe jury output. Can one properly characterize as that which may not conform to the generally accepted usage of the term? Finally, the last section of the article