Citizen Participation in Public Administration

The ideology of citizen participation has firm roots among our political values, especially participatory democracy. The push for greater citizen participation in government decision making was reborn in the 1960s. It originated in demands by minorities for a larger voice in determining policies and programs directly affecting them. Their participation was formally incorporated in both the planning and implementation of federal Model Cities and community-action programs.

Forms and practices of citizen participation are numerous, ranging from advising agencies to attending hearings to actual decision making. In addition to making statements at meetings held by administrative agencies, individuals may take part in budget and other legislative hearings, serve on advisory committees, participate in focus groups and respond to citizen surveys; and, in some cases, sit on governing boards of operating activities funded by government entities.

Also, in the delivery of human services, individuals act as coproducers of the services by their involvement in program operations. The same kind of active role is an essential ingredient in the more contemporary attempts to provide improved customer service and empower local communities to act in their own interests.

Viewing citizens as coproducers is a different but highly relevant conception of participation that has expanded with the wider use of electronic communications in government. Strategies for citizen participation are directed generally toward reducing citizen alienation from government. Although some of these purposes may be mutually incompatible, this form of grassroots involvement can also be used to hold public officials accountable.

Ideological differences about the extent of citizen participation and debates over its place in governing are related to the continuing debate in American politics over centralization of administrative authority.