Author: Rhion Jones Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781717016713 Category : Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
In the age of post-truth politics, public confidence in politicians is at crisis point. The profile of public consultation has never been higher, its purpose never more important. Single-use plastics. Fixed-odds betting terminals. Additional runways at overcrowded airports. Local government devolution. High-speed rail links. New nuclear power stations. All have featured as the subject of controversial consultations as politicians seek to find ways of keeping their election promises and public bodies seek to find ways of managing a process that is vulnerable to legal challenge, media distortion and political interference. In The Politics of Consultation, the founders of the Consultaiton Institute cut through the spin to examine hundreds of mostly well-meaning attempts to respond to greater demands for public participation in decision-making. Taking a risk of their own, they propose approaches that could see an end to these matters being fought over in court.
Author: Stephen Coleman Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 0262016567 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 435
Book Description
The global explosion of online activity is steadily transforming the relationship between government and the public. The first wave of change, e-government, enlisted the Internet to improve management and the delivery of services. More recently, e-democracy has aimed to enhance democracy itself using digital information and communication technology. One notable example of e-democratic practice is the government-sponsored (or government-authorized) online forum for public input on policymaking. This book investigates these online consultations and their effect on democratic practice in the United States and Europe, examining the potential of Internet-enabled policy forums to enrich democratic citizenship. The book first situates the online consultation phenomenon in a conceptual framework that takes into account the contemporary media environment and the flow of political communication; then offers a multifaceted look at the experience of online consultation participants in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France; and finally explores the legal architecture of U.S. and E. U. online consultation. As the contributors make clear, online consultations are not simply dialogues between citizens and government but constitute networked communications involving citizens, government, technicians, civil society organizations, and the media. The topics examined are especially relevant today, in light of the Obama administration's innovations in online citizen involvement.
Author: Adam D. Sheingate Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0190217197 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 297
Book Description
Today, politics is big business. Most of the 6 billion spent during the 2012 campaign went to highly paid political consultants. In Building a Business of Politics, a lively history of political consulting, Adam Sheingate examines the origins of the industry and its consequences for American democracy.
Author: Jenny Stewart Publisher: ANU E Press ISBN: 1921536837 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 98
Book Description
`Consultation¿ has become something of a mantra in contemporary governance. Governments well understand that policy occurs in a highly contestable environment in which there are multiple, and often competing interests. They well recognise the political imperative to `engage¿ stakeholders in order to manage potential conflict and, hopefully, obtain acceptance for their policies and programs. As a result, politicians and public officials frequently emphasise the need for consultation as an essential element of the deliberative processes underpinning the development of policy or the implementation of programs and services. But, moving beyond the rhetoric of consultation and engagement, how well is it done? In this monograph, Professor Jenny Stewart maps out the principal approaches used by governments to consult with and engage affected communities of interest. Stewart critically assesses the available literature and draws directly upon the experiences of political actors, bureaucrats and community sector organisations in order to identify the `good, bad, and the ugly¿ of engagement. Through a judicious use of selected case studies, Stewart distils the essential dilemmas and contradictions inherent in many consultation strategies and highlights their relative strengths and weaknesses. This monograph is a probing and dispassionate analysis of the rationales, methodologies and outcomes of consultation and engagement. It is not intended to be a `cookbook¿ or a `how to¿ manual for those consulting or the consulted. Nevertheless, there is much here for the policy practitioner, the researcher and members of those `communities of interest¿ who might, one day, find themselves the target of engagement.
Author: James S. Fishkin Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199604436 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 251
Book Description
This title describes a new method of consulting the public that has been tried successfully around the world. It combines the theory of democracy with actual practice.
Author: Liza Featherstone Publisher: OR Books ISBN: 1682191079 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 366
Book Description
Over the course of the last century, the focus group has become an increasingly vital part of the way companies and politicians sell their products and policies. Few areas of life, from salad dressing to health care legislation to our favorite TV shows, have been left untouched by the questions put to controlled groups about what they do and don’t like. Divining Desire is the first-ever popular survey of this rich topic. In a lively, sweeping history, Liza Featherstone traces the surprising roots of the focus group in early-twentieth century European socialism, its subsequent use by the “Mad Men” of Madison Avenue, and its widespread deployment today. She also explores such famous “failures” of the method as the doomed launch of the Ford Edsel with its vagina shaped radiator grille, and the even more ill-fated attempt to introduce a new flavor of Coca Cola (which prompted street protests from devotees of the old formula). As elites have become increasingly detached from the general public, they rely ever more on focus groups, whether to win votes or to sell products. And, in a society where many feel increasingly powerless, the focus group has at least offered the illusion that ordinary people will be listened to and that their opinions count. Yet, it seems the more we are consulted, the less power we have. That paradox is particularly stark today, when everyone can post an opinion on social media—our 24 hour “focus group”—yet only plutocrats can shape policy. In telling this fascinating story, Featherstone raises profound questions about democracy, desire and the innermost workings of consumer society.
Author: Robert Golembiewski Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 9780824703219 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 1088
Book Description
A handbook on organizational consultation. This second edition includes more than 35 new chapters and an expanded list of international contributors. It analyzes all aspects of organizational consulting - including normative, empirical and political topics - and offers a broad view of consultation diagnoses, problem centres, and interventions.
Author: Rhion Jones
Author: Stephen Coleman
Author: Adam D. Sheingate
Author: Jenny Stewart
Author: James S. Fishkin
Author: Frank J. Schwartz
Author: Liza Featherstone
Author: Robert Golembiewski
Author: Frank Jacob Schwartz
Author: Paul Buteux