Its a Group Project

Bureaucracy and the Challenge to Participatory Local Governance

“The public needs to be a part of public administration. Beyond meeting statutory requirements or political expectations, sincere public engagement needs to be a part of the development of policies and programs that result in effective public service delivery systems. Historically, a number of bureaucracies have distanced themselves from the very public they serve. They have intrinsically not recognized the necessity for civic engagement in a democratic society. In that it can be argued that public involvement is a primary basis for building trust between government and the governed, civic engagement needs to be a part of the bureaucratic DNA equally valued as the tenants of business applications and efficiency.”

The following article was published over a decade ago. Out of sheer necessity, and the realization that the very foundation of the nation’s democratic republic is threatened, local agencies have gotten better at engaging the very people they work for. They still need to look beyond the mechanics and checking the boxes. The issue is trust not efficient mechanics. It is no easy task to suggest a rebalancing of the power and authority between our elected bodies, the bureaucracy, and the polity.

Bureaucracy and the Challenge to Participatory Local Governance

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bureaucracy-challenge-participatory-local-governance-stephen-harding-8e2zc