Humanitarian neophilia: the ‘innovation turn’ and its implications

This paper critically examines the ‘humanitarian innovation’ movement, arguing that it represents a departure from classical principles and the entry of a distinctive new ideology into the sector. Labelling this ‘humanitarian neophilia’, the paper argues that it has resonances of Barbrook and Cameron’s ‘Californian Ideology’, with its merging of New Left and New Right within the environs of Silicon Valley. Humanitarian neophilia, similarly, comes from a diverse ideological heritage, combining an optimistic faith in the possibilities of technology with a commitment to the power of markets. It both ‘understates the state’ and ‘overstates the object’, promoting a vision of self-reliant subjects rather than strong nation-states realising substantive socioeconomic rights.     

Participation in Extracurricular Activities in the Middle School Years: Are There Developmental Benefits for African American and European American Youth?

In this study, we examined the associations between organized activity participation during early adolescence and adjustment in a large and economically diverse sample of African American and European American youth. The sample included 1,047 youth (51% female and 49% male and 67% African American and 33% European American). We used analysis of covariance techniques to examine links between participation in 8th grade school clubs, school sports teams, and out of school recreational activities and adjustment at 8th and 11th grade, controlling for a set of self-selection factors measured at 7th grade prior to activity involvement. Organized activity participation was associated with higher than expected grades, school value (i.e. perception of importance of school for the future), self-esteem, resiliency, and prosocial peers, and lower than expected risky behavior, though the pattern of findings differed by activity context, outcome, and time point. In a few of the models, the relation between activity participation and adjustment varied by gender, race, and socioeconomic status.

Can the market help the forum? Negotiating the commercialization of deliberative democracy

Deliberative ideals have become commercial goods bought and sold in an expanding consultancy market. In this market, demand is generated by government and advocacy groups seeking innovative ways to engage with the public. On the supply side are a growing number of commercial organizations selling deliberative goods and services such as process design, facilitation and evaluation. This paper characterizes the nature of this deliberative market, and considers its implications for democracy and contemporary governance. An analysis of deliberative consultants finds that their professional world is more akin to a ‘community of practice’ rather than a marketplace. But the development of this community of deliberative practitioners could go in opposing directions. On the one hand consultants could become the entrepreneurs of deliberative democracy, promoting and demonstrating its benefits for policy making. On the other hand, if the motivations for deepening democracy are fully replaced by business imperatives and competition, then the deliberative project would be severely undermined. Rather than predict the future, the paper identifies some of the opportunities and challenges for democratic governance as elements of deliberative democracy are commodified.

Participation for What? A Policy-motivated Approach to Political Activism

Normatively and intuitively, we conceive of political participation as an integral component of democratic policymaking. However, research on participation generally does not include policy considerations as part of individuals’ decisions to engage in activism. I offer an opportunity model of participation that begins to study how policy goals shape individual participation and how aggregate participation shapes policymaking. The central argument is that individuals’ policy goals allow them to recognize those moments when it is most efficient and/or effective to take action. Examining black participation from 1980 to 1994, I show that black Americans are more likely to participate when they face external threats, are embedded in social networks, and have greater access to policymakers. Most importantly, the recognition of these opportunities varies according to individuals’ resources. This research moves beyond the discussion of who participates to address the equally fundamental question: participation for what?     

Public Participation and Environmental Policy: What Factors Shape State Agency's Public Participation Provisions?

Public participation is becoming increasingly common in environmental decision making. While researchers have focused on understanding why individuals get involved and the impact of their engagement, less is known about the forces that shape agency and legislative decision making regarding participation. This paper uses multinomial logistic regression to explore the determinants of public participation provisions in state hazardous waste programs over time. The results suggest that states with more liberal citizenry, higher levels of manufacturing, and urban areas are more likely to formalize the participation provisions in their hazardous waste programs. Comparatively, states with fewer Democratic representatives are more likely to informally engage in public participation procedures in their states programs.     

Lay Public or Experts? e‐Participation in Authorization for GMO Products in the European Union

In the European Union, for the first time, lay people can participate directly in the procedure of assessment of GMO (genetically modified organisms) products, an exercise normally reserved for scientists and legal experts. What makes this a unique strategy of participation is that for each single application for authorization, lay people have the opportunity to express their views. This article presents the result of the first in‐depth analysis of this type of Internet participatory exercise in the first years of its implementation. It shows that, despite generally participatory technology assessment aims at deliberative consensus on technical questions, this forum is instead a way to expose the work of regulative authorities to public scrutiny and to express dissent and opposition to the European Commission policy on GMOs.     

浅谈现阶段青年政治不参与

在任何一个国家政治发展中,公民的政治参与都存在着参与和不参与并存的局面.现阶段青年的政治不参与存在着一定的危害性和普遍性.青年政治不参与行为的产生有着社会、家庭、学校和青年自身两个方面的原因.激发青年的政治参与热情,减少政治不参与行为的发生,必须从理论指导、民主法制建设、市场经济和解放思想等几个方面入手.     

比例制:当代中国性别平等参政的效力抉择

今天,绝大多数国家都已认同,两性参政的平等程度是衡量一国民主政治发展程度不可或缺的一项重要指标。虽然自建国以来中国的主流意识形态极力倡扬男女平等,并在正式制度中对女性参政采取保护性的政策,但传统社会性别制度排斥女性参政的惯性作用力在当今中国社会仍牵制着人们的思想观念和行为。因此,以强制性的制度安排保证女性一定的参政比例,虽然由此引起褒贬不一的争论,但仍不失为实现性别平等参政的一种效力抉择。     

Labour and the Scottish National Party: the Triumph of Continuity in a Changing Scotland

Scotland's party system appears on the verge of major change with the Scottish National Party poised to supplant the Labour party as the dominant force. Under a charismatic leader, the SNP is using populist means to try and secure independence. However, real change appears elusive even if constitutional arrangements are altered further. The SNP distrusts democratic participation and is keen to rule through mobilised interests groups and the civil‐service, strengthening the corporatist style of government characterising Scotland for centuries. Labour might avoid long‐term marginalisation, if it was to embrace an agenda based on strong democratic citizenship and a broad nationalism which emphasises a continuing Union in which the benefits of devolution are clearly directed towards individual citizens as well as elite groups     

Does the Content of Political Appeals Matter in Motivating Participation? A Field Experiment on Self-disclosure in Political Appeals

Although robust citizen participation is fundamental to a healthy democracy, we still lack a clear sense of how to motivate participation. This paper presents the results of an experimental study designed to see if the content of political appeals matters in motivating participation. Previous research in this area has had mixed results. This paper finds that political appeals that include some self-disclosure about the person making the request triggers a liking heuristic that causes subjects to be more likely to comply with a request for action. Subjects receiving the treatment appeal are significantly more likely to donate money to support a political cause.