Citizen schools offer a chance to rebuild our democracy fromthe bottom up

The Conservative Party’s ‘Big Society’ was supposed to bring about a new age of public involvement and active citizen participation in public affairs. But as that agenda crumbles, Jamie Audsley, the co-author of a new IPPR report, argues that to achieve those ends, we must place the citizenship agenda at the heart of every school

Community Service and Civic Education

Community service, widely touted as the cure for young people\u27s political apathy, in fact teaches little about the arts of participation in public life. To reengage students in public affairs requires redefining politics to include, in addition to electoral activity, ongoing citizen involvement in solving public problems. It requires a conceptual framework that distinguishes between public life and private life. And it calls for a pedagogical strategy that puts the design and ownership of problem-solving projects into the hands of young people

La influencia ciudadana en la decisión pública, y la influencia de los factores cultura política, y apoyo y recursos de la administración en la participación ciudadana local en Bogotá

Citizen participation, within the theoretical discussions on democracy and public management, has become more salient in the academic literature. This interest has been built up, in part, from the connection between citizen participation on the one hand, and multiple benefits for both authorities and citizens regarding governability and institutional legitimacy, on the other. As a result, governments in different countries have striven to implement strategies that promote citizen participation in public affairs. Therefore, different participation spaces have been created in which citizens can directly participate. The characteristics of the participation in each scenario vary, and indeed results do too. Accordingly, academics try to make sense of citizen participation as a process and of its results. Certainly, this is an unfinished business, with several methodological and theoretical proposals. However, they all have in common the interest of studying the participation phenomenon, understood as the citizens’ direct involvement with the aim of influencing the public decision-making process. In this sense, this dissertation attempts to account for the citizen participation process, at the local level, in Bogotá, by means of its two main objectives: to characterize the influence on public decisions citizens that participate at the local level in Bogotá have, within the frame of the usage of new citizen participation spaces, identifying along these lines difficulties and success factors these participatory experiences have. Secondly, to identify the impact that political culture and social capital, on the one hand, and the authorities’ support and resources, on the other, have on local citizen participation in Bogotá..

Public complaints: An instrument to improve services in public institution of higher learning in post modern era. Case study: Student Affairs Department in Universiti Utara Malaysia

Jurgen Habermas dan Anthony Giddens are among other postmodern thinkers have proposed the theory of public sphere and social reflexivity. Because postmodenism has undermined the structure and function of the society and gives extra power to the periphery and individuals, the rise for individual participation in voicing out their need and wants is seen as important so that decision made at the top rung of the society reflect the masses. According to Habermas, in post modern era where tradition is lacking, people are losing trust and confidence in an abstract system – the system governing them beyond their immediate surrounding. To encounter it, citizen should be given power to participate in decision making. Habermas idea is supported by Giddens with his social reflexivity concept that suggests inputting public trust back into social institution. In coherence with this argument, the paper will discuss on the public complaint in public institution which is seen as a way to improve public services. The study is carried out in Student Affairs department in Universiti Utara Malaysia in 2003. The objectives of the study is to measure the level of awareness of the services offered at the Complaint Unit HEP and complaints by the students of the university. The paper will then discuss the findings and suggests ways to improve existing systems so that the quality of service is further enhanced

Citizen Action and Radical Democracy : Towards an Arendtian Transformation of Politics

This paper attempts not only to interpret the political theory of Hannah Arendt but also to develop it from the author\u27s viewpoint. According to the author, Hannah Arendt\u27s concept of action and the active participation of ordinary people in politics can provide a theoretical basis for a theory of humane politics that focuses on influencing the macro-level of politics through voluntary, nonviolent action at the micro-level, that is, from the grass-roots level of actively engaged citizens. The paper clarifies that the purpose of Arendt\u27s political theory was to restore the perspective of ordinary citizens and the meaning of politics as the participation of ordinary citizens in public affairs. Furthermore, the paper shows how citizen participation in politics encourages individual initiative, open-mindedness, creative problem-solving, and a sharing of ideas that can benefit all concerned

A neural blockchain for a tokenizable e-Participation model

Currently, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) and, especially, Blockchain technology represent a great opportunity for public institutions to improve citizen participation and foster democratic innovation. These technologies facilitate the simplification of processes and provide secure management of recorded data, guaranteeing the transmission and public transparency of information. Based on the combination of a Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform and G-Cloud solutions, our proposal consists of the design of an e-Participation model that uses a tokenizable system of the actions and processes undertaken by citizens in participatory processes providing incentives to promote greater participation in public affairs. In order to develop a sustainable, scalable and resilient e-Participation system, a new blockchain concept, which organizes the blocks as a neural system, is combined with the implementation of a virtual token to reward participants. Furthermore, this virtual token is deployed through a smart contract that the block itself produces, containing information about the transaction and all the documents involved in the process. Finally, our Neural Distributed Ledger (NDL) framework facilitates the interconnection of blockchain networks in a transparent, certified, secure, auditable, scalable and traceable way

Decentralisation in Venezuela and citizen participation in local government : the case of local councils for public planning and the communal councils

Venezuela began a process of decentralization in the late 1980s as part of a major period of institutional reform designed to restore legitimacy to the discredited political system of the time. The first efforts towards this end did not complete the process of decentralizing political power, since they did not open more spaces or channels for citizen participation in public affairs. With the adoption of a new National Constitution in 1999, however, new channels for citizen participation were opened through the creation, amongst other mechanisms, of the State Councils of Public Policy Planning, the Local Councils of Public Planning and later, the Community Councils. The primary objectives of this thesis were to analyze the degree to which this decentralization process has improved local governance in Venezuela. More specifically, the investigation focused on exploring the effectiveness of the measures introduced to enhance civil society participation in public affairs. The analysis draws upon and attempts to integrate insights from a range of academic literatures including those dealing with: the debates surrounding good governance , organizational and institutional theory, decentralization and civil society participation in public affairs. Rich empirical research into the degree to which the decentralization process has promoted citizen involvement in decision making involved the exploration of a wide range of secondary materials and the conducting of interviews with key actors and participants within the programmes under investigation. Key findings include the observation that the creation and operation of the Local Councils of Public Planning and Community Councils have led to the evolution of a participatory process that has been marred by a lack of legal continuity, institutional disorganization and a lack of awareness of the existence of the mechanisms (and some suspicion regarding their intentions amongst the general population). Outcomes have also been heavily influenced by the political polarization that exists in contemporary Venezuela. The community councils in particular have been the subject of considerable debate within the country with opinion sharply divided along political lines as to whether they represent a radical new vision of decentralization or another way to further centralize power within the hands of President Hugo Chávez.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Explicating Factors that Foster Civic Engagement among Students

This paper investigates many facets of civic engagement by analyzing how college undergraduate students conceptualize civic engagement and by examining factors that predict greater student involvement in political, social, and community affairs.We administered a survey to college students at the beginning of fall, winter, and spring terms, 2001-02.We analyzed survey responses using a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The analysis examines how expectations of community and political efficacy, attitudes regarding citizen control of government, and attitudes toward diversity relate to the students’ civic engagement behaviors such as monthly volunteer hours, organizational participation, advocacy, voting, direct political action, and action to promote diversity and social justice in the community. The result of the SEM analysis indicates that expectations of efficacy significantly predict students’ direct political action, monthly volunteer hours, organizational participation, advocacy, and voting attitude. Students’ sense of control over public affairs significantly predicts organizational participation, advocacy, and voting attitude. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to curriculum design to foster civic engagement

Challenges of Service Deliveries in Public Institutions: Evidence from Adama and Addis Ababa City Administrations of Ethiopia

Over the past decade, discussions on concept of good governance in public service deliveries have been unsystematic. Improved public service deliveries through the effective use of citizen engagement policies and strategies by governments and other governance actors are not explored. This study undertook empirically-grounded research focusing on “how” public services are provided, rather than on “which” services are provided. The research attempted to use both qualitative and quantitative data, employing probability and non-probability sampling techniques to collect data at different stages. The previous evidence revealed that while ineffective service delivery are considerable challenges faced by public service, they are not insurmountable. Especially, the principles that can objectively guide the public service institutions, not only on service delivery standards, but also on public participation as well is not strictly followed by the institution under study. Citizens are not just consumers of services rendered by government, but are also critical role players with a stake in the election of governments and how such governments should run the affairs of the country. Keywords: Good governance, Decentralization,  Participation, Service delivery DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-10-04 Publication date: April 30th 202

Challenges of Service Deliveries in Public Institutions: Evidence from Adama and Addis Ababa City Administrations of Ethiopia

Over the past decade, discussions on concept of good governance in public service deliveries have been unsystematic. Improved public service deliveries through the effective use of citizen engagement policies and strategies by governments and other governance actors are not explored. This study undertook empirically-grounded research focusing on “how” public services are provided, rather than on “which” services are provided. The research attempted to use both qualitative and quantitative data, employing probability and non-probability sampling techniques to collect data at different stages. The previous evidence revealed that while ineffective service delivery are considerable challenges faced by public service, they are not insurmountable. Especially, the principles that can objectively guide the public service institutions, not only on service delivery standards, but also on public participation as well is not strictly followed by the institution under study. Citizens are not just consumers of services rendered by government, but are also critical role players with a stake in the election of governments and how such governments should run the affairs of the country. Keywords: Good governance, Decentralization,  Participation, Service delivery DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/10-7-01 Publication date:July 31st 202