Constituting 'the public' in public participation

The emphasis on public participation in contemporary policy discourse has prompted the development of a wide range of forums within which dialogue takes place between citizens and officials. Often such initiatives are intended to contribute to objectives relating to social exclusion and democratic renewal. The question of ‘who takes part’ within such forums is, then, critical to an understanding of how far new types of forums can contribute to the delivery of such objectives. This article draws on early findings of research conducted as part of the ESRC Democracy and Participation Programme. It addresses three questions: ‘How do public bodies define or constitute the public that they wish to engage in dialogue?’; ‘What notions of representation or representativeness do participants and public officials bring to the idea of legitimate membership of such forums?’; and ‘How do deliberative forums contribute to, or help ameliorate, processes of social inclusion and exclusion?’     

COMMENTARY ON TIPPINS AND WITTMANN'S "EMPIRICAL AND ETHICAL PROBLEMS WITH CUSTODY RECOMMENDATIONS:

Although in substantial agreement with Tippins and Wittmann's analysis, their call for a moratorium on the practice of custody evaluators making recommendations to the court does not solve the many problems that they have raised, and may have unintended consequences which place families at even greater risk. This commentary reflects our agreement with some of the authors' major points of contention, focuses on several points of disagreement, and suggests alternative remedies for the shortcomings and ethical problems described in child custody evaluations.     

MAKING ENDS MEET: CITIES, FISCAL STRESS, AND EQUILIBRIUM

Books reviewed in this article
Terry Nichols Clark and Lorna Crowley Ferguson, City Money: Political Processes, Fiscal Strain, and Retrenchment
Richard Rose and Edward Page (Eds.), Fiscal Stress in Cities
Irene S. Rubin, Running in the Red: The Political Dynamics of Urban Fiscal Stress     

When Decentralization Leads to Recentralization: Subnational State Transformation in Uganda

Abstract

Among other shortcomings of decentralization reforms undertaken by developing countries since the 1980s, recent research finds that the reforms' primary aim—devolution of authority to localities—has often not been achieved in practice. This article builds on that insight, examining an understudied pathway through which states that have undertaken decentralization can ultimately recentralize power: administrative unit proliferation. Rapid creation of numerous new subnational administrative units is an increasingly common occurrence in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This phenomenon, I argue, allows for recentralization by reducing the intergovernmental bargaining power and administrative capacity of each subnational unit, as well as by substantially expanding both the reach of the national executive's patronage network and its ability to monitor emergent security threats on its periphery. The article illustrates these mechanisms with evidence from Uganda.     

Cops and community: street-level leadership in community based policing

This article describes a model of street-level leadership t the authors developed in over 800 hours of observational research with two police departments. The model is applied to the concept of community-based policing in order to illustrate its usefulness in shaping and judging community-based police reforms. The street-level leadership model is shown to provide both explanatory and evaluative criteria through which both police departments and the communities they serve can understand and create effective community-based police programs.     

The new public management

The New Management of British Local Governance. Edited by Gerry Stoker. Macmillan Press in association with the ESRC Local Governance Programme, 1999. Pp.295. £45 hb; £14.99 pb.

Beyond the New Public Management: Changing Ideas and Practices in Governance. Edited by Martin Minogue, Charles Polidano and David Hulme. Edward Elgar, 1998. Pp.325. £59.95.