Democracy is measured by measuring the level of citizen participation. Citizen participation is what makes democracy different from other forms of governance. The citizens are involved in the decision-making processes and before the implementation of new guidelines or processes in the government. The purpose of citizen participation is to ensure that all decisions regarding them are approved by the people to prevent oppression by the leaders. The citizens have introduced participation programs that help in empowering the citizens and civic groups to establish strong civic cultures as well as to achieve a balance of power between the government and the citizens. However, the aspect of citizen participants has its challenges and benefits in the democratic government.
The participation of citizens helps in resource mobilization as it makes it faster and more effective than when the leaders mobilize the resources. The citizens also feel more assured when they are involved in the mobilization to prevent from being lied to by the government. Another advantage is education from both the government and the citizens when it comes to decision-making discussions (Nabatchi, 6). The involved and informed citizens who discuss with the government administrators learn from each other as they attempt to solve any complex issues. The implementation of policies that are well-grounded in the preferences of the citizens is done smoothly, in a less costly function and with a cooperative public.
The involvement of the informed citizens also helps in political suasion which mainly depends on the social influence of the participating citizens. Therefore, for political power, the politicians would need the help of the citizens. Once some informed citizens are involved, they can influence the others leading to a strong enthusiasm from the citizen that helps diffuse the opposition. Therefore, the participation also helps in empowerment where the community activists relate with government decision makers and present their viewpoints in an atmosphere that is non-confrontational (Irvin & Stansbury, 3). Citizen participation also helps in less costs that would result from the possibility of lengthy litigations that result from eschewed meaningful stakeholder participation. Environmental management is of major concern by the citizens. Therefore, the participation in environmental policy formation helps in informing regulators of any expected volatile public backlash and where the regulation is strongest.
The citizen participation has some disadvantages on the government and the people equally. The main disadvantage is the costs which are incurred during decision making are higher than when the decisions are made by a professional administrator (Nabatchi, 14). The cost per decision involving the citizens is subject to scrutiny even without taking into consideration the participant’s time cost. In some situations, the decisions made would have still been the same even after the administrator took over the process (Irvin & Stansbury, 4). The process is also time-consuming as it involves lengthy discussions that may not be necessary. They lead to long periods of decisions making while an individual who is trained may take fewer days or even hours depending on the situation. Some of the participants are also not compensated for their efforts or considered for the time they spend in decision making processes. The representation in government also requires intervention as many citizens lead to overcrowding as they would all want to be representatives.
Public sector values include the ethics that help the citizens have more trust and confidence in the government. The impact of the values is that it creates a sense of confidence that the citizens can depend on the government to solve their issues accordingly. The values portray a sense of accountability for the government. However, the citizens still insist on public participation just to ensure that the values are effective and nothing is done behind their backs. The public sector values also have an effect on the administration processes as they ensure transparency, accountability and other moral requirements under the code of ethics in the public sector (Svara & Janet, 6). The reason for the values id to ensure that issues such as mismanagement of funds, corruption, embezzlement and fraud are avoided. Participation by the citizens also helps ensure that the administrators in the government offices conduct themselves according to the ethical conduct in the public sector. Therefore, the public sector values have a positive impact on both democracy and the administration. Democracy that is conducted under the public sector values would have less issues between the public and the government officials. The ethical requirements and values in the public sector make democracy effective and transparent as it should be.
Democracy government faces many challenges as well as benefits as compared to other forms of government. The participation of citizens in the government activities helps in ensuring transparency but also makes it hard for the government to keep private information. The informed citizens who are chosen to represent the others in government are briefed on conduct where some information should be considered private as it may be destructive to the public. Therefore, the main objective of public participation is to ensure that the public is considered in all decisions and that they are governed in fairness and truth (Nabatchi, 12).
Work Cited
Nabatchi, Tina. A manager's guide to evaluating citizen participation. Washington, DC: IBM
Center for the Business of Government, 2012. Print.
Irvin, Renee A. & Stansbury, John. Citizen Participation in the decision-making process: Is it
worth the effort. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1996. Print.
Svara, James H., and Janet Denhardt. "The connected community: Local governments as
partners in citizen participation and community building.” Promoting Citizen
Engagement and Community Building. N.p, 2010. Print.
