Councillors' receipt and use of citizen input: Experience from Norwegian local government

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Askim, Jostein; Hanssen, Gro Sandkjaer
• 署名单位: University of Oslo
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3298
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9299.2008.00722.x
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 387-409
• 关键词: public-participation; decision-making; governance; stakeholder; performance; politicians; INFORMATION; leadership; IMPACT; trust

摘要

The article expands citizen participation research by tackling participation from the viewpoint of elected officials - the recipients of citizen input. The article studies the role citizen input plays in elected officials' decision making. Citizen input is defined as information elected officials obtain through direct contact with citizens and representatives of local associations. Using survey data from Norwegian local government, the article assesses how much citizen input councillors receive, and to what extent they use it to set local agendas. It is demonstrated that Norwegian councillors have a high degree of exposure to citizen input and that citizen input constitutes most councillors' primary source of agenda-setting inspiration. The article also examines differences in the extent to which councillors use citizen input, and draws on existing theoretical and empirical research to discuss how these differences can be explained. For example, findings that local government frontbenchers and highly educated councillors consider citizen input less useful than others do are explained by an analytical perspective emphasizing councillors' varied needs for such information.