Practical Considerations for Public Participation in Constitution-Building: What, When, How and Why?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin C. Houlihan ◽  
Sumit Bisarya
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Policy Paper ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
Constitution Building ◽  
Definition Of

Public participation has become a core element of modern constitution-building. Robust participation is credited with a range of benefits—from improving individual behaviours and attitudes to democracy to shaping elite bargaining dynamics, improving constitutional content, and strengthening outcomes for democracy and peace. Yet it is not well understood whether and how public participation can achieve these ends. Much of what we think we know about participatory constitution-building remains theoretical. No two processes are alike, and there is no agreed definition of what constitutes a ‘participatory process’. Yet national decision-makers must contend with the key question: What does a robust participation process look like for a particular country, at a particular time, in a particular context? What considerations and principles can be derived from comparative experience to guide decisions? This Policy Paper unpacks the forms and functions of public participation across different stages of the constitution-building process and considers the ways in which public engagement can influence the dynamics of the process, including political negotiations.

scholarly journals Constitution-Building Bodies and the Sequencing of Public Participation A Comparison of Seven Empirical Cases

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abrak Saati
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
General Public ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Single Person ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Rules Of Procedure ◽  
Constitution Building

Constitution-building is one of the most salient aspects of transitional processes, from war to peace or from authoritarian rule, in terms of establishing and strengthening democracy. This paper is part of a research project that aims to identify the circumstances under which constitution-building can strengthen democracy after violent conflict and during transitions from authoritarian rule. Previous research has indicated that the actions and relations of political elites from opposing political parties when making the constitution has bearing on the state of democracy post promulgation, but that the careful sequencing of public participation in the process can be of relevance as well. This paper conducts a systematic analysis of seven empirical cases and focuses the investigation to the type of constitution-building body that has been employed and to during what stage of the process the general public have been invited to participate. It concludes that popularly elected constitution-building bodies tend to include a broad range of political parties and that they, additionally, tend to have rules of procedure that encourage compromise and negotiation, whereas appointed bodies are dominated by one single party or one single person and do not have rules of procedure that necessitate compromise. The paper also discusses the potential need for political elites to have negotiated a number of baseline constitutional principles prior to inviting the general public to get involved in the constitution-building process, and concludes that this is an area of research in need of further in-depth empirical case-studies. 

Deciding Whether to Engage the Public on Health Care Issues

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Chafe ◽  
Doreen Neville ◽  
Thomas Rathwell ◽  
Raisa Deber
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Health Care Decision ◽  
The Public ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Care Issue ◽  
Care Decision

Health care decision-makers often face calls for greater public participation or see increasing public engagement as part of their organizational mandate. This article identifies six questions decision-makers must consider when deciding whether to formally engage the public or other stakeholders around a particular health care issue. These questions focus on (1) the clarity of the issue for public engagement, (2) the appropriateness of the issue for public engagement, (3) the extent to which there are viable options, (4) the role for the public, (5) whether the public likely want to be involved and (6) consideration of the expected advantages and disadvantages of public engagement.

Open Budgetary Meetings Amid a Pandemic: Assessing Connecticut’s Various Pathways to Public Engagement During COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-76
Author(s):  
Jodie Gil ◽  
Jonathan L Wharton
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Public Meetings ◽  
Open Meeting

This qualitative analysis of public participation in Connecticut open meetings highlights how Connecticut communities adjusted when the state’s open meeting law was temporarily revised under emergency order during COVID-19. A survey of officials in 95 municipalities found a majority had the same or more participation in budget deliberations during that time. Only about a quarter saw decreased public participation. A closer look at four communities highlights specific challenges and successes during the sudden shift in public meetings. Connecticut’s varied forms of government give multiple perspectives, which can provide insight for other communities looking to expand virtual access to open meetings.

Two Theories of Effective Government

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter introduces the problem of “reform capacity” (the ability of political decision-makers to adopt and implement policy changes that benefit society as a whole, by adjusting public policies to changing economic, social, and political circumstances). The chapter also reviews the long-standing discussion in political science about the relationship between political institutions and effective government. Furthermore, the chapter explains why the possibility of compensation matters greatly for the politics of reform; provides a precise definition of the concept of reform capacity; describes the book's general approach to this problem; and discusses the ethics of compensating losers from reform; and presents the book's methodological approach.

scholarly journals Framing Effects and Fuzzy Traces: ‘Some’ Observations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Framing Effects ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Alternative Interventions ◽  
Trace Theory ◽  
Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽  
The Core ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Lower Bounding ◽  
Central Claim

AbstractFraming effects occur when people respond differently to the same information, just because it is conveyed in different words. For example, in the classic ‘Disease Problem’ introduced by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, people’s choices between alternative interventions depend on whether these are described positively, in terms of the number of people who will be saved, or negatively in terms of the corresponding number who will die. In this paper, I discuss an account of framing effects based on ‘fuzzy-trace theory’. The central claim of this account is that people represent the numbers in framing problems in a ‘gist-like’ way, as ‘some’; and that this creates a categorical contrast between ‘some’ people being saved (or dying) and ‘no’ people being saved (or dying). I argue that fuzzy-trace theory’s gist-like representation, ‘some’, must have the semantics of ‘some and possibly all’, not ‘some but not all’. I show how this commits fuzzy-trace theory to a modest version of a rival ‘lower bounding hypothesis’, according to which lower-bounded interpretations of quantities contribute to framing effects by rendering the alternative descriptions extensionally inequivalent. As a result, fuzzy-trace theory is incoherent as it stands. Making sense of it requires dropping, or refining, the claim that decision-makers perceive alternatively framed options as extensionally equivalent; and the related claim that framing effects are irrational. I end by suggesting that, whereas the modest lower bounding hypothesis is well supported, there is currently less evidence for the core element of the fuzzy trace account.

An Algorithm to Slice 3-D Shapes for Reconstruction in Prototyping Systems

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Chalasani ◽  
B. Grogan ◽  
A. Bagchi ◽  
C. C. Jara-Almonte ◽  
A. A. Ogale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Structure ◽  
Rapid Prototyping ◽  
Surface Finish ◽  
Cyclic Order ◽  
Contour Tracing ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Dense Grid ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract Rapid Prototyping (RP) processes reduce the time consumed in the manufacture of a prototype by producing parts directly from a CAD representation, without tooling. The StereoLithography Apparatus (SLA), and most other recent RP processes build a 3-D object from 2.5-D layers. Slicing is the process of defining layers to be built by the system. In this paper a framework is proposed for the development of algorithms for the representation and definition of layers for use in the SLA, with a view to determine if the slicing algorithms will affect surface finish in any significant manner. Currently, it is not possible to automatically vary slice thicknesses within the same object, using the existent algorithm. Also, it would be useful to use a dense grid for hatching or skin filling any given layer, or to change the hatch-pattern if desired. In addition, simulation of the layered building process would be helpful, so that the user can prespecify parameters that need to be varied during the process. The proposed framework incorporates these and other features. Two approaches for determining contours on each slice are suggested and their implementation is discussed. In the first, the layers are defined by the intersections of a plane with the surfaces defining the object. The plane is moved up from the base of the object as it is being built in increments. All intersections found are stored in a data structure, and sorted in head to tail fashion to define a contour for all closed areas on a layer. The second approach uses a scanline-type search to look for an intersection that will trigger a contour-tracing procedure. The contour-tracer is invoked whenever an unused edge is found in the search. This saves storage and sorting times, because the contour is determined as a chain of edges, in cyclic order. It is envisaged that results of this work on the SLA can be applied to other RP processes entailing layered building.

Discursive Democracy and New Labour: Five Ways in Which Decision-Makers Manage Citizen Agendas in Public Participation Initiatives

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Williams
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Labour Policy ◽  
The Government

New Labour's conceptualisation of public participation in local government creates a tension in public participation practice. Government legislation and guidance require local authorities to develop and provide citizen-centred services, engage the public in policy-making and respond to the public's views. Seen in this light, New Labour policy draws from radical democratic discourse. However, local authority staff are also expected to act in accordance with the direction set by their line managers, the Council and the government and to inform, engage and persuade the public of the benefit of their authority's policies. In this respect, New Labour policy draws from the discursive model of civil society, conceptualising public participation as a method for engendering civil ownership of the formal structures of representative democracy. Tension is likely to arise when the ideas, opinions and values of the local authority differ from those expressed by the participating public. This paper uses a local ‘public participation’ initiative to investigate how the tension is managed in practice. The study shows how decision-makers dealt with the tension by using participatory initiatives to supply information, understand the views of the public and encourage public support around pre-existing organisational agendas. Problems occurred when citizens introduced new agendas by breaking or manipulating the rules of participation. Decision-makers responded by using a number of distinctive methods for managing citizens’ agendas, some of which were accompanied by strategies for minimising the injury done to citizens’ motivations for further participation. The paper concludes that New Labour policy fails to deal with the tensions between the radical and discursive models of participation and in the final analysis draws mainly from the discursive model of participation. Furthermore, whilst New Labour policy promotes dialogue between the public and local authority, it does not empower local authority staff to achieve the goal of citizen-centred policy-making.

scholarly journals The Prejudicial Effects of "Reasonable Steps" in Analysis of Mens Rea and Sexual Consent: Two Solutions

2018 ◽  
pp. 933
Author(s):  
Lucinda Vandervort
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Mens Rea ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Is Failure

This article examines the operation of “reasonable steps” as a statutory standard for analysis of the availability of the defence of belief in consent in sexual assault cases and concludes that application of section 273.2(b) of the Criminal Code, as presently worded, often undermines the legal validity and correctness of decisions about whether the accused acted with mens rea, a guilty, blameworthy state of mind. When the conduct of an accused who is alleged to have made a mistake about whether a complainant communicated consent is assessed by the hybrid subjective-objective reasonableness standard prescribed by section 273.2, many decision-makers rely on extra-legal criteria and assumptions grounded in their personal experience and opinion about what is reasonable. In the midst of debate over what the accused knew and what steps were “reasonable,” given what the accused knew, the legal definition of consent in section 273.1 is easily overlooked and decision-makers focus on facts that are legally irrelevant and prejudice rational deliberation. The result is failure to enforce the law. The author proposes: (1) that section 273.2 be amended to reflect the significant developments achieved in sexual consent jurisprudence since enactment of the provision in 1992; and (2) that, in the interim, the judiciary act with resolve to make full and proper use of the statutory and common law tools that are presently available to determine whether the accused acted with mens rea in relation to the absence of sexual consent.

scholarly journals Konsep Dasar dan Teknik Manajemen Risiko Perbankan Syariah

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahdiyat Agus Susila
Keyword(s):  
Opportunity Cost ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
Potential Losses ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Unexpected Outcomes

Often risks arise because of more than one choice and the impact of each option is not yet known for certain, as uncertain future. There is always an opportunity cost that follows every option taken. Thus, risks may be defined as the consequences of uncertain options that have the potential to lead to unexpected outcomes or other adverse impacts to decision makers. This is the classic definition of risk. From this definition, risk contains several dimensions, namely opportunity costs, potential losses or other negative impacts, uncertainty, and obtaining results that do not match expectations. It is with these demands that risks are measured, mitigated and monitored during the business process.  

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