Uk Local Government and Public Participation: Using Conjectures to Explain the Relationship

Abstract

The relationship between local government and public participation is a problematic one. Taking the UK as an example, it is evident that, despite 40 years of experimentation with public participation initiatives, there has been little impact on local policy processes. While a range of plausible explanations can be found for this state of affairs, no overarching theoretical framework is available to organize them. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to offer just such a framework of analysis by utilizing and developing the conjectures approach originally used by Klijn and Skelcher (2007). Four conjectures, developed from the UK experience, are presented. These are the transitional, incompatibility, instrumental and resistivity conjectures. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for research and for policy.

Localism in Practice: Investigating Citizen Participation and Good Governance in Local Government Standards of Conduct

“…Contrary to the concerns of McKenna () and Vigoda (), our research suggests that giving citizens a direct and concrete assignment/appointment is also more conducive to participatory democracy than just having open‐ended town hall meetings every week or flooding citizens with policy information through the Internet.…”

“You can't make this a science!” — Analyzing decision support systems in political contexts

“…Such statements can be explained by elements of incompatibility, but they can also be understood as expressions of the inevitable friction involved in transitions from one form of decision-making to another. From "a transitional perspective" (i.e., Klijn & Skelcher, 2007;McKenna, 2011), the role of research is to contribute to a higher degree of contextual specificity and to a better understanding of the process of transforming traditional structures into hybrid forms. The new processes indicate a different role of elected politicians, a new way of defining the general interest as well as innovative strategies to develop power to get things done.…”

Citizens and the city: the case for participatory budgeting in the City of Zagreb

“…The results in this paper also reveal that individuals who are not supportive of the current state or the local political system, and who intend to turn out at the next election, are more likely to consider themselves informed about actions of the local government. Although trust did not prove to be a significant driver of citizens' level of knowledge about the local budget issues (Wang and Berman, 2001;McKenna, 2011;Rowe and Frewer, 2000), it seems to affect awareness of the average citizen that he or she can influence the budgetary process. In other words, higher trust and support for the state and local political system are positively correlated with citizens' awareness of the possibility of influencing the local budget process (Norris, 1999).…”

“…However, several studies suggest that greater participation in public policy is not related to public trust (Wang and Berman, 2001;Mckenna, 2011;Carr, 2015;Rowe and Frewer;2000). Some researchers argue that a positive attitude toward local government encourages citizens' participation in local government matters (Kosecik and Sagbas, 2004;Piotrovski and Van Ryzin, 2007;Stevenson, 2007).…”