Citizen engagement towards making democracy work

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. R Balasubramaniam ◽  
M N Venkatachaliah
Keyword(s):  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Different Levels

This chapter explores experiences and reflections of having engaged with citizens towards ensuring greater and responsible participation in the electoral processes before and during elections at different levels. In 2013 and 2014, these efforts took shape of a formal campaign in and around Mysuru in India, but received recognition and appreciation in forums across the country. Making participatory democracy work is in the hands of citizens, and exercising their electoral franchise is the first step towards this. A ‘vote’ in the world's largest democracy is however a complex phenomenon given how it is sought, and how people respond to it. Collectively, people ought to put an end to unhealthy trends in the Indian electorate by voting responsibly, by being politically more conscious, by demanding accountability, by participating, or by resisting.

Strengthening women empowerment through i-docs: Alternative forms of participation and civic engagement in the feminist movement

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Pérez-Escolar ◽  
Laura Cortés-Selva
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Different Levels

The main objective of this research is to explore how i-docs motivate and drive citizen engagement in a manner that sustains and reinforces the sense of belonging to the feminist movement. Drawing upon the eight core drives represented by each side of the Octalysis methodology, the purpose of this study is to identify the motivational elements that push citizens to participate in feminist causes and to be concerned about different feminist issues. Using a quantitative methodology, our sample comprises three feminist documentaries that enable different levels of interaction and participation: She Is Beautiful When She Is Angry, as a closed i-doc; En la brecha, as a semi-closed i-doc; and Las sinsombrero, as a semi-open i-doc. The results show that the most powerful motivational element in the three i-docs is the ‘epic meaning and calling’ core drive.

How do French Municipalities Communicate on Citizen Involvement?

2013 ◽  
pp. 321-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Premat
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Method ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Power Shift ◽  
Digital Strategy ◽  
Municipal Election ◽  
The Way

The chapter updates a former study on digital communication at local level in France in 2006. The goal is to analyse the explanatory factors which influence the digital communication of municipalities on participatory democracy. Why are there municipalities which communicate more on these resources than others? It is important to compare the situation of these municipalities in 2006 and in 2012 because there was a power shift after the last municipal election in 2008. The focus will be on municipalities of more than 30.000 inhabitants as they have the possible resources to support a digital strategy. A quantitative method was used to select the variables which affect the communication on participatory tools. In other words, the article deals with the way politicians promote citizen engagement at local level through updated websites.

scholarly journals Data-Driven Participation: Algorithms, Cities, Citizens, and Corporate Control

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Tenney ◽  
Renee Sieber
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Corporate Control ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Ground Theory ◽  
Canadian City ◽  
The City

In this paper, we critically explore the interplay of algorithms and civic participation in visions of a city governed by equation, sensor and tweet. We begin by discussing the rhetoric surrounding techno-enabled paths to participatory democracy. This leads to us interrogating how the city is impacted by a discourse that promises to harness social/human capital through data science. We move to a praxis level and examine the motivations of local planners to adopt and increasingly automate forms of VGI as a form of citizen engagement. We ground theory and praxis with a report on the uneven impacts of algorithmic civic participation underway in the Canadian city of Toronto.

scholarly journals Organising labour market integration support for refugees in Austria and Sweden during the Covid-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Almina Bešić ◽  
Andreas Diedrich ◽  
Petra Aigner
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
National Level ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Labour Market Integration ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Organisational Level

AbstractThis paper addresses the question of how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the labour market integration support (LMIS) organised for refugees in Austria and Sweden, and the potential consequences of the changes unfolding. LMIS for refugees is a complex phenomenon involving actors at different interwoven levels—the macro-national level, the meso-organisational level and the micro-individual level. However, the complexities and consequences of such processes for the labour market integration of refugees have so far received limited attention. The current Covid-19 pandemic actualises the need to gain a better understanding of how integration support is organised across the different levels and how the pandemic itself impacts such support. Thus, the article seeks to understand how the pandemic affects the LMIS organised for refugees in Austria and Sweden, two countries with a large refugee population and diverging responses to the pandemic. Based on 29 semi-structured interviews and three focus group workshops, the results highlight in particular three developments: (a) a further entrenching of broader, macro-national level developments related to integration support already underway prior to the pandemic; (b) further mainstreaming of activities; and (c) increased volatility of work. Overall, the pandemic has brought to the fore the interrelation of different levels in the organising of LMIS for refugees and has contributed to a stabilisation of already ongoing activities.

scholarly journals The Politics of Participation in Cultural Policy Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elysia Lechelt ◽  
Malaika Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Meaningful Participation ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Inclusive Approach ◽  
Participatory Policy

Recent attempts by local governments to engage in participatory policy-making hint at a willingness for a more democratically inclusive approach to policy. However, there is often a gap between the rhetoric of citizen engagement and the actual implementation of these policy-making initiatives. There is concern that, in certain instances, the terms ‘co-production’ and ‘participatory democracy’ have been adopted whilst the participatory nature of policy-making procedures has, in reality, remained very limited. This article aims to contribute to these broader discussions and debates around the democratic nature of ‘co-produced’ policy practices. This article considers Calgary’s recent ‘co-produced’ Cultural Plan as a potential example of participatory policy-making. Using a framework based on key concepts within the democratic theory, including works by Arnstein (1969), Rawls (1971) and Pateman (1970, 2012), we consider how the strategy adopts participatory policy-making processes, and question how the plan’s development process has succeeded and failed in creating meaningful participation.

scholarly journals Social Media and Crowdsourced Election Monitoring

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 7-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisca Sassetti
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Election Monitoring ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Democratic Elections

With the rise of social media in Sub-Saharan Africa, citizen-led organizations in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana have embraced crowdsourcing for domestic election monitoring, at a time when holding competitive elections has proven insufficient to ensure democratic elections. Yet, while existing literature focuses on the contrast between crowdsourcing and traditional monitoring, the effects of crowdsourced election monitoring on the transparency and quality of elections remain unaddressed. This paper makes a comparative analysis of elections in Nigeria from 2003-2015, framed within Sub-Saharan Africa, supported by a dataset of election monitoring deployments. Findings show that, in Nigerian elections where crowdsourcing was used, higher levels of election transparency were registered based on the introduction of the concept of participatory democracy and its practical application. This would, then, contribute to more peaceful and democratic elections. This research also sheds some light on the benefits of domestic election monitoring for citizen engagement.

Methods to Study Interactions Among Crops and Weeds

1987 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven R. Radosevich
Keyword(s):  
Plant Density ◽  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Yield Losses ◽  
Weed Interference ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Species Proportion

Studies of weed and crop competition can be used to predict yield losses from weed presence and to determine optimum levels or periods of weed control. However, competition is a complex phenomenon that is governed by various biological, environmental, and proximity factors. The factors of proximity include plant density, species proportion, and spatial arrangement among individuals. Several experimental methods have been developed that attach different levels of importance to proximity factors. These methods are described, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed. Density, proportion, and arrangement of plants influence the outcome of competition experiments and should be incorporated into studies of crop-weed interference, since differing estimates for the effects of weeds on crop productivity can be obtained, depending upon the experimental method used.

Relative changes in the level of dwelling stock as well as in technical and sanitary appliances of flats in rural areas of the Wielkopolskie voivodship

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 52-68
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Dolata ◽  
Jarosław Lira
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
Relative Advantage ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Local Data ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Dynamic Methods ◽  
Relative Delay ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Over Time

The aim of the research was to assess the scale of disparities of dwelling stock as well as technical and sanitary appliances of rural dwellings in the Wielkopolskie voivodship in the years 2004—2015. It was conducted on the basis of data describing selected diagnostic features derived from the CSO Local Data Bank. One of the dynamic methods of relative taxonomy based on the construction of synthetic measure using spatial median of Weber was applied to examine such a complex phenomenon. On the basis of the measure, four relative typological classes were distinguished with different levels of dwelling stock development and technical and sanitary appliances in rural areas in the Wielkopolskie voivodship according to the profile of powiats. The greatest relative advantage over the remaining classes had the powiat of Poznań and three powiats located in the southern and western part of the voivodship. The largest relative delay characterised powiats located mostly in the eastern and northern part of the voivodship. The applied method allowed to classify the examined units in a given period and to observe changes in the value of a synthetic variable over time. The construction of synthetic feature was based on the relativised value of diagnostic features included in the research.

scholarly journals Searching for City Hall, Digital Democracy, and Public-Making Rhetoric: U.S. Municipal Websites and Citizen Engagement

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Johnson Lambiase
Keyword(s):  
Shared Governance ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Important Work ◽  
Digital Government ◽  
Digital Democracy ◽  
City Hall ◽  
Content Analyses

U.S. cities rely on their websites to enhance citizen engagement, and digital government portals have been promoted for decades as gateways to participatory democracy. This study, through rhetorical and qualitative content analyses, focuses on 200 municipal homepages from 2017 and the ways they invite participation through public-making rhetoric. The findings reveal very few cities have: platforms for interactive discussions; representations of citizen activities; or ways to call citizens into being for the important work of shared governance.

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