摘要:

How citizen participation is distributed within the population is one of several fundamental questions of general significance to democratic theorists. This article briefly reviews some of the most salient normative arguments regarding the distribution of democratic citizen participation and then turns to the principal conceptual‐methodological issues to be encountered when considering the basic empirical question. Against this background the Norwegian case is discussed in detail, first in light of prior synchronic investigations, then by means of a diachronic analysis of panel study data from the 1965, 1969 and 1973 national election surveys. These analyses document more broadly based citizen participation in Norway than might otherwise be anticipated and discredit the idea of a cumulative hierarchical overlap pattern of political involvement. The article concludes with a discussion of several considerations relating to these findings, all of which suggest the need for greater sensitivity and explicitness among those who would advance claims or comparisons regarding the distribution of citizen participation in modern democracie

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1982.tb00264.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1982

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The ideal conception of pluralist democracy can be seen as a schematic picture of actual conditions. On the local level ‐ in the municipalities ‐ there are a number of variants of pluralism. If local political systems can be assumed to be of varying character, it stands to reason that the roles of organizations in those sub‐systems can also vary.The following three general conclusions concerning the role of organizations in Swedish municipal politics are supported by our empirical findings:(1) A heterogeneous pattern of values in a municipality promotes the development of an arrangement in which organizations predominantly assume the role of political opposition.(2) The interaction between municipalities and organizations is a function of the pattern of local political values. The more heterogeneous this pattern, the more frequent are politically oriented contacts.(3) Increased overlap of the social, the economic and the political arenas, and a more incrementalist decision‐making structure in modern municipalities, creates greater incentives for the formation of organizations.There should not be any doubt about the fact that the amalgamation reforms contributed to the creation of a more differentiated and multifaced structure of organizations. Hence, it could be said that the amalgamation reformstogetherwith other structural factors are in the long run positively correlated with pluralism!‘Whatever progress may come in the future, anyone attempting today to give a systematic account of organizational behavior, especially of politically relevant behavior, cannot pretend he is offering a theory in any strict sense. At best, he can offer a theoretical perspective, a way of looking at organizations that directs attention persuasively to a few central processes that seem to explain (though not predict, in any scientific sense) a wide variety of phenomena.’ (Wilso

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1982.tb00265.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1982

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The literature of the last decade indicates two important lessons for future research. The first is that political scientists and scholars in related fields have rediscovered the nature and ubiquity of politics. In particular, they have realized that neither public administration nor organization theory can solve political issues. The second lesson is that the growth of government has enlarged the list of important political actors with the addition of numerous ‘public’ groups, organizations, and institutions. The combined message of the two lessons is that analyses of the public sector and policy‐making should be sensitive to the importance of political actors in the public sector. This paper is a preliminary attempt (based on elite questionnaire data) to map the general structure of the Danish policy‐making system by focusing on the interactions among government bureaucrats, interest organizations, and MPs. These elites are further included in an analysis of public expenditure problems, with particular emphasis on the (often neglected) role of political parties and their relationships to various groups and segments of society. The emergent overall picture of the policy‐making system indicates problems that presumably cannot be ‘solved’ within the framework of a demo

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1982.tb00266.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1982

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

A concept is the name of any general element in one's experience, and, consequently, in social science all conclusions are based on concepts. The main object of this article is to indicate the existence of a logical gulf between the concept as an object of analysis made by social science and the concept as a means to accomplish the analysis

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1982.tb00267.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1982

数据来源: WILEY