4-2 Short Paper Public Participation Helpful or Harmful to a Municipal Government
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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Dec 6, 2023
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4-2 Short Paper Public Participation Helpful or Harmful to a Municipal Government
William Hunter
Southern New Hampshire University
PAD 332
John Kleinhans
November 19, 2023
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4-2 Public Participation Helpful or Harmful to a Municipal Government
In the beliefs of Yang and Callahan in that public participation is more harmful than
helpful in addressing municipal issues. Yangs research into citizen involvement is centered
around the study of trust, as it is identified as a state at which enables them in placing their trust
in obtaining or the expected positive outcomes. There is also a perception that citizen
involvement is time consuming and could also be costly to those city governments with limited
resources, and that there will be chaos (Yang, 2006). In my reading of public involvement, I have
learned that citizen involvement is critical as well as being the very essence of our democracy as
the words “We the People” in our constitution establishes a foundation of the citizens right to be
involved in governance. Also, in this research citizen involvement in local government assists in
increasing accountability not just with local government officials but the citizens are also held
under the same accountability. There are a number of citizen involvement programs which are
used outside of public meeting as in our day of technology citizens can be involved through
electronic networks such as virtual meeting. There are programs which also encourage citizens
engagement in participatory processes which include creating tasks force or focus groups which
assists in strengthening citizens role in decisions being made within their communities (ICMA,
2012).
In addressing this issue of Yang and other researches of the opinion that citizen
involvement would lead to conflict. They are correct that human emotions could occasionally,
flare up during these meeting in which the members of the committee have to be able to manage
or control the meeting to reduce the amount of stress involved. The committee members are
responsible in gauging the audience of the topics which may become heated in which they must
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be able to conduct the meetings that the most productive rather than those that are not (MRSC,
2023). In my opinion community involvement is the most effective way for local governments to
gain the trust of the citizens they serve. Furthermore, local governments can also engage citizens
of the community as well in gathering the needed information from them as well as providing
them information such as city finances.
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References
ICMA. (2012). Citizen Involvement.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120907142430/http://icma.org/en/international/expertise/citizen_i
nvolvement
MRSC. (2023). Community Engagement Resources.
https://mrsc.org/explore-topics/governance/engagement/community-engagement-
resources#frameworks
Yang, K. (2006). Trust and citizen involvement decisions: trust in citizens, trust in institutions,
and propensity to trust. Sage Pub.
https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/0095399706292095
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