Today much emphasis has been placed on ''governance'' and the active participation of citizens in the policy process. Such arguments are based primarily on the recognition that legislative and executive branches have not been responsive enough to meet the needs of citizens. Citizens are expected, then, to play an active role in the policy process and collaborate with other actors such as governments and corporations so that public policy could reflect the citizens' needs.If citizens are to participate in the policy process more actively, however, they must have proper knowledge on public policy and political process; to put it another way, they are required to possess the governability so that the collaboration with other actors could succeed. This paper is intended to theoretically review the governability of citizens. Closer attention is given to what policy analysts could do for the improvement of citizens' governability. It is contended that policy analysts play an active role in the policy process so that policies which they think desirable could be adopted. This paper proceeds as follows. First, modeling the policymaking process, how citizens could influence the process is demonstrated. Next, this paper reveals that, despite the potential influence of citizens over the policymaking process, policymakers are unlikely to make a policy the citizens want. There exist some limitations of citizens' governability, which make it difficult for citizens to exert the influence; most policy problems are too technical and too complicated for citizens to deal with. Given the limitations of citizens' governability, then, attention is paid to the roles of policy analysts in the policy process; how policy analysts could contribute to encouraging meaningful citizen participation and improving the policy process is examined. This paper is concluded by discussing the collaboration among policymakers, citizens and policy analysts in terms of knowledge utilization. The reform of the governance structure requires us to establish a policymaking system which enables policy analysts as well as citizens to actively participate in the policy process.
In the policy information market, a politician demands policy knowledge and information. When making a policy decision, he/she is confronted with considerable uncertainty about policy impacts, citizens' preferences and their reactions to his/her decision. A politician aiming at reelection will make an effort to make a deliberate decision so that the possibility of reelection could increase. Such decision making is facilitated by policy knowledge and information, which he/she seeks. Policy knowledge and information, hence, are strategically important to him/her.In normative terms, as well, a politician should obtain knowledge and information on public policy. This is the case especially given that policymaking at the initiative of politicians has been emphasized recently; a politician is expected to be actively engaged in policymaking, not to depend excessively on bureaucrats. It follows that he/she has to have sufficient ability to deal with complicated policy problems. To acquire such ability, various pieces of knowledge and information need to be given to him/her. This paper focuses on policy analysts as suppliers of policy knowledge and information. Policy analysts are often confronted with the gap between a policy outcome shaped in the policymaking process and policy knowledge they supply, and hope to have such knowledge more utilized so that this gap could be bridged. They are required, consequently, to actively sell their products (viz., knowledge and information) to politicians, consumers of those products. The current emphasis on political initiative, moreover, is considered to give policy analysts a good chance to sell their products. A limited number of producers of knowledge and information used to be allowed to enter the policy information market, such as bureaucrats. Such a regulation has been eased now; more various producers including policy analysts can supply their products to customers.Policy analysts' possible strategies for knowledge utilization are examined, in this paper, in terms of demonstration, timing and sales methods. Policy analysts need to briefly explain the advantages of a policy instrument they consider as socially desirable, through using simple and symbolic words; to sell their products when an issue is highly salient; and to be directly involved in policymaking and exchange information with politicians.Even if policy analysts try to be directly involved in policymaking, nevertheless, knowledge they supply is not necessarily linked to a policy decision. In the successful cases referred to in this paper, the political leaders tied policy research to a reform under discussion. Such a strong leader, however, does not always control the policymaking process. How to make the policy information market more efficient, hence, should be considered in institutional terms; developing the system which connects policy knowledge and information to policy deliberation is worthy to be done.
This article focuses on citizenship education supplied by universities as a way to help promote citizen participation. Employing an economic approach to university behavior in a competitive market, theoretical insight is offered into whether universities can supply citizenship education. The findings reveal, on the one hand, that universities have an incentive to educate "good citizens" and that subsidies, including governmental financial support, contribute both to an increase in the number of students and to an improvement in citizenship education programs. It is demonstrated, on the other hand, that universities are unenthusiastic about supplying education for "adequate citizens. " Universities emphasize commercial revenue rather than citizen development, and although governmental financial support might allow more individuals to receive an education, this is unlikely to be spent almost exclusively on citizenship education programs.
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