Trust Matters: Enhancing Government Legitimacy through Participatory Budgeting

Legitimacy is a problem of contemporary governance. Communities lack trust in elected officials—in their effectiveness, fairness, and representation of the public interest. Participatory budgeting (PB)—a set of democratic processes where residents determine how to spend a public budget—helps bridge that distance by letting the public make spending decisions. Since 2011, some of New York City’s (NYC) council members have been implementing PB with their capital budget—setting aside a million dollars in their districts each budget cycle for PB. Participatory budgeting has the potential to rebuild relationships between government and communities. Using data from over eighty interviews conducted by New York University (NYU) graduate students in 2013 and 2014 with PBNYC participants over two years, this article suggests that in council districts using PB, residents have greater feelings of access to and voice in local government, and better understanding of the complexities of spending public monies, often leading to a more positive view of government officials, and bolstering legitimacy of local government.     

Grassroots Citizenship at Multiple Scales: Rethinking Immigrant Civic Participation

Given the finding that the marginalized are less politically engaged, we examine those who are arguably the most marginalized—the undocumented—and ask: what underwrites recent cases where the undocumented have been politically engaged in meaningful and substantive ways? Additionally, how does this compare with the existing literature on the practice of citizenship for those with formal rights? And what are the implications for our understanding of political participation in the contemporary USA? We seek to address these questions by examining cases where undocumented immigrants act like citizens even though they lack formal political rights. Our cases deviate from previous literature which argues that more marginalized people participate less and that those without formal rights engage in contentious politics in lieu of “normal,” institutional politics. Our analysis of the DREAMers and of immigrant worker centers helps us rethink this traditional distinction between “normal” and contentious politics. Moving beyond a focus on the specific actions that fall into each category, we instead emphasize how the context for these actions is crucial to understanding the foundations of political participation. In particular, we argue that the same “normal” political actions taken by citizens versus noncitizens reveals different foundations underneath; for those without formal rights, what underwrites participation in “normal” and contentious politics alike is what we call grassroots citizenship. We examine how the political participation of undocumented workers and DREAMers takes place within immigrant organizations and how it relies on three pillars: solidarity, critical analysis, and collective action. While previous literature has emphasized the urban and local nature of active, alternative citizenships, our cases operate at multiple scales, demonstrating how grassroot citizenship can be leveraged and “scaled up” to state and national levels. Additionally, through an analysis of grassroots citizenship, we get some purchase on the question of why politicians sometimes listen to people who cannot vote.     

Networked Governance or Just Networks? Local Governance of the Knowledge Economy in Limerick (Ireland) and Karlskrona (Sweden)

The emergence of networked governance of knowledge activities is portrayed as one component of a more general shift from government to governance. This article suggests that a distinction can be drawn between networks and networked governance and provides some insights into the indicators that might help distinguish networked governance from networks. The distinction is applied empirically to emerging forms of local networks in ICT in Limerick and Karlskrona. Differences between the two regions can be conceptualised with reference to the governance role of local networks in steering, setting directions and influencing behaviour. The article identifies the characteristics of network arrangements that appear to be necessary for governance objectives to be satisfied; these are density, breadth and association with values such as trust, mutuality and shared identity. The article shows that there is a need to approach generalised theories of emerging models of governance with sensitivity to cross-regional variations around these characteristics. Claims regarding the emergence of new forms of governance in local spaces may be exaggerated if all types of network arrangements are taken as evidence of a transformation from government to governance.     

Crime,social disorganization,and social structure: A research note on the use of interurban ecological models

The social disorganization perspective, as set forth by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, has enjoyed renewed interest in criminological explanations of crime and delinquency. This paper extends this perspective beyond the traditional intraurban focus of the neighborhood to a more encompassing interurban model, using 682 SMSA counties. The results using these counties were generally consistent with neighborhood studies, demonstrating the robustness of the social disorganization model.     

The effect of rural population on homicide rates across the rural-urban continuum: A county level analysis

Using 3,130 counties and equivalents in the United States for 1980, this paper provides a test of the effects of rural population and its component parts, controlling for other factors, on homicide rates, across the rural-urban continuum. The results indicate that the percent rural population of a county continues to have an inhibitory effect upon homicide. However, this result is influenced by the rural-urban context of the county.     

Chile’s new entrepreneurs and the “economic miracle”: The invisible hand or a hand from the state?

The Chilean economy has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade, thanks to a dramatic increase in export activities (and earnings), and the emergence of a more entrepreneurial capitalist class. This article attempts to explain that remarkable phenomenon using original data on entrepreneurs in one of Chile’s most important new export industries, namely, fishing. The central argument of the article is that domestic entre-preneurship flourished during the Pinochet period not because the state “got the economic environment right,” as the neoliberal ideologues are wont to argue, but rather because the Pinochet government behaved, in several important senses, like a “developmental state,”a la the states of East Asia. The analysis also reveals a heretofore ignored role of a developmental state, which is to help produce a new capitalist class culture. In the Chilean case, it was state policy as well as ideology that gave rise to a new generation of entrepreneurs. Rachel A. Schurman is assistant professor in the Energy and Resources Group and the Department of Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley. Her primary interests are in environmental sociology, and the role that natural resource industries play in regional economic development. She is currently working on the changing character of the tuna industry in the Western Pacific afters the Third U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Her next project will be a book on the economic and ecological sustainability of natural resource-based, export-led growth in Chile.     

Programme and Project Cycle Management (PPCM): Lessons from South and North

This paper documents the lessons drawn from several years of practical work with a range of Programme and Project Cycle Management (PPCM) processes and tools. The need for PPCM training, and not simply Logical Framework training, is emphasised, as is the importance of using an experiential training methodology. Institutional ownership of both PPCM tools and approaches are considered to be vital for success. Since so many donors now use PPCM tools, the need for development professionals to have PPCM skills and knowledge is paramount. The value of logframes as a tool to both increase programme/project ownership and communication is highlighted. The importance of thinking outside the boxes of the logframe at the project/programme review stage is also emphasised.     

Future orientation: Age-related differences among adolescent females

The main objective of this study was to examine age-related differences in adolescent orientation to the future. Analysis of the hopes and fears for the future of 124 Israeli Jewish females who were in junior high school, senior high school, and senior year of college examined two alternative hypotheses. One, derived from the 1977 least necessary expenditure principle of Heckhausen, predicted differences among the three age groups, and the other, derived from the 1986 social control and continuity principle of Kohli, predicted no such differences. Results showed greater support for the hypothesis derived from the least necessary expenditure principle. However, sample characteristics (size, one-gender, one cultural group) and the cross-sectional design of this study call for additional examination of age differences and their explanation in terms of the least necessary expenditure and the social control and continuity principles.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Major research interest is adolescent transitions in sociocultural context.