scholarly journals Ecology Projects and Participatory Budgeting: Enhancing Citizens’ Support

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10561
Author(s):  
Sergiu Gherghina ◽  
Paul Tap

In contemporary times, a large number of ecology projects are put on the public agenda through participatory budgeting. There is variation in the support they receive from citizens, but until now we have not known what drives this support. This article aims to identify the factors that could determine the support for ecology projects in participatory budgeting. It includes all 36 projects on ecology, which passed the technical eligibility check, submitted to the participatory budgeting in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) between 2017 and 2019. We use quantitative analysis to test the extent to which five project characteristics have an effect on the public support for the ecology projects: the requested budget, the type of project, the number of arguments, the use of jargon, and images and videos in addition to text descriptions. The results show that citizens take the environmental matters seriously and do not vote for schematic projects that are limited in scope and which have limited contribution to the general welfare.

2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Baum ◽  
Tim Groeling

AbstractPrevailing theories hold that U.S. public support for a war depends primarily on its degree of success, U.S. casualties, or conflict goals. Yet, research into the framing of foreign policy shows that public perceptions concerning each of these factors are often endogenous and malleable by elites. In this article, we argue that both elite rhetoric and the situation on the ground in the conflict affect public opinion, but the qualities that make such information persuasive vary over time and with circumstances. Early in a conflict, elites (especially the president) have an informational advantage that renders public perceptions of “reality” very elastic. As events unfold and as the public gathers more information, this elasticity recedes, allowing alternative frames to challenge the administration's preferred frame. We predict that over time the marginal impact of elite rhetoric and reality will decrease, although a sustained change in events may eventually restore their influence. We test our argument through a content analysis of news coverage of the Iraq war from 2003 through 2007, an original survey of public attitudes regarding Iraq, and partially disaggregated data from more than 200 surveys of public opinion on the war.


Author(s):  
Ashley Newton

This study investigates how public charities respond to the public support test – an IRS requirement that at least one-third of a public charity’s financial support is derived from public sources.  Using a large sample of 836,920 charity-year observations during 2009-2018, I find that a disproportionately large number of charities exceed the 33⅓% public support threshold by a small margin.  This result holds only for public charities actually subject to the test (six years of age or older) and not young charities that automatically retain public charity status.  Further, I find that charities that unexpectedly just meet public support test are more likely to understate fundraising expenses.  This evidence implies that the public support levels of charities that just surpass the 33⅓% threshold are likely misrepresented.  Overall, my findings provide new insights into a vitally important regulatory threshold that has been largely neglected in existing research.


2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Beyeler ◽  
Hanspeter Kriesi

This article explores the impact of protests against economic globalization in the public sphere. The focus is on two periodical events targeted by transnational protests: the ministerial conferences of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Based on a selection of seven quality newspapers published in different parts of the world, we trace media attention, support of the activists, as well as the broader public debate on economic globalization. We find that starting with Seattle, protest events received extensive media coverage. Media support of the street activists, especially in the case of the anti-WEF protests, is however rather low. Nevertheless, despite the low levels of support that street protesters received, many of their issues obtain wide public support.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Scharkow ◽  
J. Vogelgesang

2020 ◽  
pp. 002242782095320
Author(s):  
Alexander L. Burton ◽  
Justin T. Pickett ◽  
Cheryl Lero Jonson ◽  
Francis T. Cullen ◽  
Velmer S. Burton

Objectives: The recurring mass murder of students in schools has sparked an intense debate about how best to increase school safety. Because public opinion weighs heavily in this debate, we examine public views on how best to prevent school shootings. We theorize that three moral-altruistic factors are likely to be broadly relevant to public opinion on school safety policies: moral intuitions about harm, anger about school crime, and altruistic fear. Methods: We commissioned YouGov to survey 1,100 Americans to explore support for a range of gun control and school programming policies and willingness to pay for school target hardening. We test the ability of a moral-altruistic model to explain public opinion, while controlling for the major predictors of gun control attitudes found in the social sciences. Results: The public strongly supports policies that restrict who can access guns, expand school anti-bullying and counseling programs, and target-harden schools. While many factors influence attitudes toward gun-related policies specifically, moral-altruistic factors significantly increase support for all three types of school safety policies. Conclusions: The public favors a comprehensive policy response and is willing to pay for it. Support for prevention efforts reflects moral intuitions about harm, anger about school crime, and altruistic fear.


2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Williams

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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson Levy Braga da Silva Neto ◽  
José Renato Nalini

<p class="Default">O tema “cidades inteligentes e sustentáveis” que está no topo da agenda pública de debates sobre planejamento urbano condensa uma multiplicidade de sentidos e que tangencia as atuais fronteiras, partindo do horizonte reflexivo da área. Busca-se avançar em direção à construção dos conceitos relacionados ao tema de forma a contribuir para o fornecimento de subsídios para o avanço teórico da área de planejamento urbano e regional no Brasil. O texto será dividido em duas partes. A primeira discorrerá sobre os desafios conceituais do tema, tentando identificar as vozes e os discursos por trás da ideia de “cidades inteligentes e sustentáveis”. Este primeiro item tentará responder à pergunta: é possível, hoje, extrair uma unidade conceitual mínima em torno dessa ideia? Qual?</p><p class="Default"><span><br /></span></p><p>The theme of "smart and sustainable cities" at the top of the public agenda of debates on urban planning condenses a multiplicity of meanings and that touches current boundaries, starting from the reflective horizon of the area. It seeks to advance towards the construction of concepts related to the theme in order to contribute to the provision of subsidies for the theoretical advancement of urban and regional planning in Brazil. The text will be divided into two parts. The first will discuss the conceptual challenges of the theme, trying to identify the voices and discourses behind the idea of "smart and sustainable cities". This first item will attempt to answer the question: is it possible today to extract a minimal conceptual unity around this idea? What?</p><p class="Default"><span><br /></span></p>


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