Facilitating Public Participation in Local Governments in Hard Times

Abstract

In the wake of the economic crisis in 2007, many municipal governments faced a variety of financial challenges. Scholars and practitioners call for citizen participation in various parts of government; however, it is unclear how efforts to engage the public can be sustained when municipalities undergo tough financial times. This research explores the impact of internal and external factors-(a) impact of financial crisis, (b) environmental and organizational complexity, and (c) administrative decentralization-on whether citizens are given the opportunity and resources to be involved in decision-making. Findings suggest that, despite their concerns for the diminishing fiscal capacity, local governments provide supportive institutional arrangements that may encourage public participation. Organizational complexity in local government also has a positive impact on facilitating public involvement and providing resource. Finally, the analyses indicate mixed findings for environmental complexity faced by local jurisdictions.

How Municipal Takeovers Reshape Urban Democracy: Comparing the Experiences of Camden, New Jersey and Flint, Michigan

“…To borrow Lasswell’s (1936) phrasing, municipal takeovers shape “who gets what, when, [and] how.” In this context, the development regime was closely aligned with the values of rationality project, eschewing—to their own detriment—the values of the polis. While Jun and Bryer (2017) argue that local governments facing fiscal constraints “may have the opportunity to democratize their governance processes . .…”

O orçamento participativo e a dinâmica orçamentária no setor público

“…Outros estágios têm sido desconsiderados, como o contingenciamento de despesas (cutback management) e alterações do orçamento (processos de rebudgeting). Essa etapa do processo é relevante, pois é nela que os Governos concentram a maior parte do poder de barganha no processo orçamentário, com constantes cortes e re-priorizações de projetos, geralmente realizados de forma top-down centrados no Poder Executivo (Forrester, 1993), e muitas vezes afetando os projetos aprovados em instâncias participativas (Jun & Bryer, 2017). Por exemplo, os cidadãos podem ser consultados sobre a demanda futura e o desempenho de determinados serviços públicos, informação relevante para decisões de corte de despesas (Park, 2019).…”

Project Stakeholder Management as the Integration of Stakeholder Salience, Public Participation, and Nonmarket Strategies

“…Although public participation research in the political sphere is vibrant (e.g., Herian et al 2012;Jun and Bryer 2017), academic publications on the corporate sphere are few (e.g., De Schepper et al 2014). This subsection examines whether public participation in a corporate-political context is driven by analysis, as defined by Eskerod and Jepsen (2013) (see above), or directly by a nonmarket strategy.…”