Citizen Voice Research Articles

Organizational Diversity in the U.S. Advocacy Sector

Academic observers of contemporary American politics tend to portray the political sector as characterized by little variation in the options for citizen-based action, represented by professional advocacy organizations that provide few avenues for meaningful civic involvement. This article challenges this dominant imagery and examines how much variety exists in the organizational models available for citizen voice at the national level in the United States and how the observed models are linked to the goals, strategies, and claims advanced by a diverse set of national advocacy groups. Analysis of a sample of Washington, DC-based political organizations identified five distinct models of organizing that differ significantly in terms of their structural characteristics and their association with the goals and activities that animate collective action at the national level in the United States.

Arctic Indigenous Peoples as Representations and Representatives of Climate Change

Recent scientific findings, as presented in the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA), indicate that climate change in the Arctic is happening now, at a faster rate than elsewhere in the world, and with major implications for peoples of the Arctic (especially indigenous peoples) and the rest of the planet. This paper examines scientific and political representations of Arctic indigenous peoples that have been central to the production and articulation of these claims. ACIA employs novel forms and strategies of representation that reflect changing conceptual models and practices of global change science and depict indigenous peoples as expert, exotic, and at-risk. These portrayals emerge alongside the growing political activism of Arctic indigenous peoples who present themselves as representatives or embodiments of climate change itself as they advocate for climate change mitigation policies. These mutually constitutive forms of representation suggest that scientific ways of seeing the global environment shape and are shaped by the public image and voice of global citizens. Likewise, the authority, credibility, and visibility of Arctic indigenous activists derive, in part, from their status as at-risk experts, a status buttressed by new scientific frameworks and methods that recognize and rely on the local experiences and knowledges of indigenous peoples. Analyses of these relationships linking scientific and political representations of Arctic climate change build upon science and technology studies (STS) scholarship on visualization, challenge conventional notions of globalization, and raise questions about power and accountability in global climate change research.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE: Planning for the 2040s: everybody's business

As we mark the publication of the 35th issue of the British Journal of Special Education, Peter Mittler, Emeritus Professor of Special Needs Education at the University of Manchester, looks into the future and asks a series of challenging questions: What kind of a future do we want to see for a baby born with a significant disability today? What changes will be needed in society and in our schools both for the child and for the family? What reforms might this year's newly qualified staff bring about in our schools and services and in society as a whole by the time they retire in the 2040s? Professor Mittler proposes that the time is ripe to take advantage of new international and national opportunities to lay the foundations for a society that fully includes disabled people and safeguards their basic human rights. He argues that each one of us can help to determine the values and priorities of the society in which today's baby will grow up and suggests that the Make Poverty History movement has provided powerful evidence that the voice of ordinary citizens can shape policies and set priorities. He encourages us all to think globally and to act locally on a host of issues, including supporting families, planning for transition, promoting quality of life, professional development and challenging inequality.

Voice is Not Enough

Procedural justice researchers have long argued that giv ing people a voice in decision-making proceedings leads to heightened satisfaction with the outputs of those processes and enhanced compli ance with decisions. More recently, this concept has been applied to the political arena with the suggestion that simply having a voice in the pro ceedings may not be enough. Similarly, the attitudes of external efficacy and political trust have long been linked. Integrating these two lines of research to incorporate important lessons about the dimensionality of external efficacy, I argue that giving people a voice in politics is not a universal remedy for ailing democracy. A voice that is perceived to have no influence can be more detrimental than not perceiving a voice at all. Moving out of the experimental setting by using survey data collected in a 2001 study of attitudes toward municipal government, I examine the impact that perceptions of voice and influence have on feelings of policy satisfaction and political trust. Findings suggest that perceptions of voice and influence do indeed have an impact on feelings of political trust and policy satisfaction. Neither political trust nor policy satisfaction responds positively to perceptions of increased voice alone. Believing that citizen voice, loud or quiet, has an influence is important. Feelings of policy sat isfaction and political trust are increased only when respondents believe citizens had both increased voice and influence.

Newspapers' Struggles with Civic Engagement: The U.S. Press and the Rejection of Public Journalism as Propagandistic

This article examines how two factors—journalism's professionalized vigilance against co-option and its difficulty differentiating social action communications from propaganda—led to many in the press attacking public journalism as propagandistic. Sociologist Alfred McClung Lee's mid-20th century writings provide fresh explanations for how press critics conflated public journalism with propaganda. Finally, this article maintains that newspapers can improve their pertinence in a new media age by better linking citizen voices into news stories.

Revitalizing the Public Sphere: The Current System of Discourse and the Need for the Participative Design of Social Action

Public discourse in Western democracies, particularly in the United States, is far from the Habermasian ideal of citizens engaging in a rational discussion of public affairs. Rather than providing an arena for informed deliberation, the growing expertise of the media, lobbyists, and politicians has sub-optimized the current system of discourse to focus on emotional manipulation and the creation of polarized interests, each competing with each other for dominance. Avoiding a potentially disastrous outcome from this unbalancing of public discourse requires a revitalization of the public sphere and a return of the citizen voice in public decision making. To that end, systems thinkers have a tremendous opportunity and can play an important role. This article will explore the current challenges facing public discourse and outline that potential role.

Media, Civil Society, and the Rise of a Green Public Sphere in China

Direct citizen voices are relatively absent from China's public arena and seldom influence government policymaking. In early 2004, however, public controversies surrounding dam building on the Nu River prompted the Chinese government to halt the proposed hydropower project. The occurrence of such public debates indicates the rise of a green public sphere of critical environmental discourse. Environmental nongovernmental organizations play a central role in producing this critical discourse. Mass media, the internet, and “alternative media” are the main channels of communication. The emergence of a green public sphere demonstrates the new dynamism of grass-roots political change.

A Study on a Support System for Community Bus Operation Planning with Citizen Participation

In this Paper, at first, a support system for community bus operating planning with citizen participation by geographic information system (GIS) was constructed. And the system was applied to planning of the “Yoppy” study meeting with citizens in Yotsukaido-city. As the result, it was revealed that the system was sufficient for effective community bus operation with citizen participant And next, an web questionnaire system for surrounding citizen voices was proposed. The system was helpful for sounding out the citizen voice.

Promoting well-being: Time for a paradigm shift in health and human services

The promotion of personal, relational, and collective well-being has evolved markedly in the last three decades. However positive and needed, recent developments in health promotion require further conceptual clarification and synergistic applications. To assist with conceptual clarification, this article proposes to distinguish among sites, signs, sources, and strategies of well-being. With respect to applications, progress is discussed along four domains: temporal, ecological, participation, and capabilities. The temporal domain refers to the timing of interventions and entails a continuum from reactive to proactive strategies. The ecological domain pertains to the site of interventions, ranging from person-centered to community-centered. The participation domain refers to voice and choice of citizens and consumers in delivery of services and access to resources. At one end of this continuum there is empowerment, while at the opposite end we see disempowerment and detachment. Finally, the capabilities domain refers to the concentration on either strengths or deficits. This article argues that a singular focus on strength, prevention, empowerment, or community conditions is insufficient. It presents a framework for the conceptual integration of these four approaches, while illustrating the benefits of their synergy and the risks of their fragmentation. It is high time for a paradigm shift in health and human services, and this article argues that only a new approach that focuses on strengths, prevention, empowerment, and community conditions can make considerable progress towards the achievement of well-being for all.

Communicating Global Citizenship: Multiple Discourses Beyond the Academy

This article demonstrates that notions of “global citizenship”, as communicated beyond academic debates in political theory and sociology, can be situated within two overarching discourses: a civic republican discourse that emphasizes concepts such as awareness, responsibility, participation and cross-cultural empathy, and a libertarian discourse that emphasizes international mobility and competitiveness. Within each of these discourses, multiple understandings of citizen voice can be identified. Exploring how myriad ways of thinking related to “global citizenship” are springing forth in public debate serves to illustrate new ways in which a wide variety of political, social and economic actors are reflecting upon the meaning of voice and citizenship in the context of increasing public recognition of global interdependence. Not only has “global citizenship” emerged as a variant within the concept of citizenship, but the concept of “global citizenship” contains many variants and sources of internal division. How the concept of “global citizenship” continues to evolve in public discourse, especially in response to watershed events, promises to remain a fruitful line of inquiry for years to come.

Citizen voice and participation in local governance: Perspectives from Nicaragua

This article examines the case for the opening up of new spaces for citizen voice in local governance, through synergy between political party leaders and social movement leaders. Through case study evidence from two municipalities in Nicaragua, it is found that where the relationship between political party and social movement leaders has been very close, the potential for disadvantaged citizens to have voice in local governance is diminished. A key factor that emerges is that citizens should have unmediated access to such new arrangements for local governance, with social movements and political parties playing a facilitative role.

Citizen voice and participation in local governance: Perspectives from Nicaragua

Citizen voice and participation in local governance: Perspectives from Nicaragua

Advocacy vs. collaboration: Comparing inclusionary community planning models

Two approaches to community planning in the United States, advocacy planning and collaborative planning, are compared and evaluated with respect to their ability to empower community residents. Advocates claim they each provide opportunities for residents and their organizations to have meaningful input into decisions made about their communities. However, the approaches differ in the ways in which citizen voice is heard. Two case studies in Chicago, Illinois are used to demonstrate the application, use and limitations of each. Attention is paid to how citizens’ views and aspirations were incorporated in each of the planning situations and how the final outcomes were affected. The paper concludes with comments about conditions under which the two approaches may be effective tools for citizen involvement and community empowerment.

The citizen's voice: twentieth-century politics and literature

The citizen's voice: twentieth-century politics and literature

Spaces for community involvement: Processes of disciplining and appropriation

Proposals for greater community involvement in local governance run through much ‘New Labour’ policy. Studies suggest that often the performance criteria tied to participatory mechanisms act to discipline citizen voices. This paper considers the ways in which this political space might simultaneously enable citizens to appropriate governmental power to their own ends. It draws on empirical evidence, gathered during qualitative research in south-east London, to focus on contestations surrounding the way in which ‘voices’ are expressed. The paper highlights the role of practitioners as allies in struggles to counter policy-makers' expectations for citizens to speak the ‘language’ of government.

Developing Accountable Local Leadership through Citizens Voice : An Experience of Gram Sabha in an Indian State

Developing Accountable Local Leadership through Citizens Voice : An Experience of Gram Sabha in an Indian State

Black and Grey

Black and Grey

Market Organizations And Deliberative Democracy

Two distinct approaches have been proposed for tackling bureaucratic inefficiency and insensitivity. One replaces political control and government supply with citizen/consumer sovereignty and market forces. The other supports greater citizen involvement in public decision making. But market forces and citizen participation can be mutually reinforcing. The author shows this by comparing the practices of charter schools and traditional public schools. Charter schools are shown to provide opportunities for yoking citizen voice with consumer choice. As such, they create spaces where deliberative democracy might be encouraged and they present organizational models that could inform other areas of public service delivery.

Public journalism's talking cure

The notion that news is a form of storytelling has received sustained attention by communication scholars. Public journalism's narratives position the movement as a challenge to traditional journalism and the public lethargy it is said to spawn. This article considers public journalism's narratives and their consequences on the theory and practice of this journalistic movement. Evidence is drawn from journalistic and academic advocates of public journalism and from The Philadelphia Inquirercoverage of its Citizen Voices project. It is claimed that public journalism's narratives, which define conversation as a conclusive result, fail to adequately address the mandate of reinvigorating the public sphere. Additionally, the article argues that when examined through the prism of narrative theory, public journalism does not mark a revolution in journalism. In fact, traditional and public journalisms adopt similar narrative strategies to effect essentially the same ends: placing the power of telling society's stories in the hands of journalists.

The Tension Between Policy Science and Politics: Addressing Cancer Incidence and Environmental Contamination in Michigan

The Internet and related innovations in information and communications technologies now enable individuals and groups from across a state to easily access and analyze data on public health and environmental contamination. In Michigan, will this improve the policy attention given to rural, as well as urban and suburban, areas of the state? Will better‐informed citizen voices result in policy decisions that take longer‐term considerations into account and are more representative of the interests of all areas of the state? This article suggests not. The recent adoption of lifetime legislative term limits in Michigan and the complexity of and public misunderstandings about the research process and data analysis likely will make legislative work on environmental policy more difficult and contentious.