User:Nicole Lizbeth/Public participation

Legend:

Bold type - my text (headings not included)

Regular type - Wikipedia article text

Public policy
In some countries public participation has become a central principle of public policy making'''. Within democratic bodies, policies are rendered legitimate when citizens have the opportunity to influence the politicians and parties involved.''' In the UK and Canada it has been observed that all levels of government have started to build citizen and stakeholder engagement into their policy-making processes. Situating citizens as active actors in policy-making can work to offset government failures by allowing for reform that will better emulate the needs of citizens. By incorporating citizens, policies will reflect everyday needs and realities, and not the machinations of politicians and political parties. This may involve large-scale consultations, focus group research, online discussion forums, or deliberative citizens' juries. There are many different public participation mechanisms, although these often share common features (for a list over 100, and a typology of mechanisms, see Rowe and Frewer, 2005).

Public participation is viewed as a tool, intended to inform planning, organising or funding of activities. Public participation may also be used to measure attainable objectives, evaluate impact, and identify lessons for future practice. In Brazil's housing councils, mandated in 2005, citizen engagement in policy drafting increased effectiveness and responsiveness of government public service delivery. All modern constitutions and fundamental laws contain and declare the concept and principle of popular sovereignty, which essentially means that the people are the ultimate source of public power or government authority. The concept of popular sovereignty holds simply that in a society organized for political action, the will of the people as a whole is the only right standard of political action. It can be regarded as an important element in the system of the checks and balances, and representative democracy. Therefore, the people are implicitly entitled even to directly participate in the process of public policy and law making.

Public trust
In recent years loss of public trust in authorities and politicians has become a widespread concern in many democratic societies. The relationship between citizens and local governments has weakened over the past two decades due to shortcomings in public service delivery. Public participation is a regarded as one potential solution to the crisis in public trust and governance, particularly in the UK, Europe, and other democracies. Establishing direct citizen participation can increase governance's effectiveness, legitimacy, and social justice. The idea is that public should be involved more fully in the policy process in that authorities seek public views and participation, instead of treating the public as simply passive recipients of policy decisions.

The underlying assumption by political theorists, social commentators, and even politicians is that public participation increase public trust in authorities, improving citizen political efficacy, enhancing democratic ideals and even improving the quality of policy decisions. However, the assumed benefits of public participation in restoring public trust are yet to be confirmed. Citizen participation is only sustained if citizens support it and if their involvement is actively supported by the governing body.

Accountability and transparency
Public participation may also be viewed as accountability enhancing. The argument being that public participation can be a means for the participating communities to hold public authorities accountable for implementation. In the United Kingdom citizens are used to ensure the fair and humane detention of prisoners. Volunteers comprise the Independent Monitoring Board that reports on the fair and humane detention of prisoners and detainees.

Many community organizations are composed of affluent middle-class citizens with the privilege and the time to participate. '''It is well documented that low-income citizens face difficulty organizing themselves and engaging in public issues. Obstacles like: finding affordable childcare, getting time off of work, and access to education in public matters exacerbate the lack of participation by low-income citizens . To foster greater participation of all social groups, vanguard privileged classes work to bring in low-income citizens through collaboration. The organizations establish an incentive for participation through accessible language and friendly environments. This allows for an atmosphere of consensus between middle and lower-income citizens.'''