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- Title
Emerging Problems of Citizen Participation.
- Authors
Cupps, D. Stephen
- Abstract
This article analyzes the problems which have accompanied the growth of the citizen participation and public interest movements. The principle problems identified are the potential shortsightedness of the administrative response to citizen demands, problems of representation and legitimacy, the style and tactics of citizen groups, and the absence of sophisticated cost-benefit analysis of public interest policies and programs. The author suggests that public participation which is not carefully ordered and constrained by administrators can lead to poorly conceived, unrepresentative, and costly policy decisions. Administrators are chiefly responsible for the integrity of the administrative process, and sensitivity to citizen demands is no substitute for independent, carefully reasoned, professional judgments regarding the nature of the public interest in each new administrative situation.
- Subjects
POLITICAL participation; PUBLIC interest; POLITICAL planning; COST effectiveness; LEGITIMACY of governments; DECISION making; SOCIAL policy
- Publication
Public Administration Review, 1977, Vol 37, Issue 5, p478
- ISSN
0033-3352
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/974695