The Concept Of Civil Society Participation

Civil society participation is regarded as beneficial to public policy and governance but has significant implications for the traditional role of administrators and political elites. The introduction of ‘Better Local Government’ in 1996 and the subsequent implementation of the Local Government Act 2001 has provided a space for the inclusion of civil society and citizens in local governance through formalized structures of participation such as Strategic Policy Committees, Local Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committees and , more recently, Joint Policing Committees. It is necessary, however, to examine the extent to which the creation of these processes has increased and deepened civil society engagement in local governance. Deepened participation can be defined as a more sustained and direct involvement in governance, for example, the ability to agenda set and impact policy outcomes. The following project will assess the reality of civil society participation in a case study of one local authority through original qualitative data, local authority documents and a theoretical framework drawn from participatory and administrative theory.

Local government in Ireland has seen widespread reform in an attempt to increase its capacity, efficiency and responsiveness. Since 1996, local authorities in Ireland have implemented new structures of participatory governance which offer an expanded role for civil society actors. Whether advisory or decision-making, the creation of structures of participatory governance has clear implications for local government and the traditional role of administration and political elites. It is worthwhile to evaluate to what extent civil society engagement has increased and deepened since the creation of these structures. Although 2 designed nationally the three structures subject to analysis are administered and facilitated by local authorities. The conduct and disposition of senior local authority officials, therefore, who have considerable responsibility and autonomy in responding to the participation of ‘external actors’, is important in making this assessment. The recent creation of the JPC means there has been little academic study of its operation to date and it is worthwhile to assess the functioning of the JPC in its relative infancy. The research question seeks to assess the extent the creation of structures of participatory governance at the local level in Ireland increase and deepen civil society participation in governance. It is possible to distinguish between ‘increasing’ and ‘deepening’ citizen/civil society participation. Increased participation allows ‘growth in the numbers involved in political participation’. Deepened participation is defined as ‘any change which allows a more direct, sustained and informed participation by citizens’.

This project is a detailed case study of civil society participation in one local authority. Due to the constraints of an MA dissertation, a case study approach was more manageable and achievable than a focus on a number of different local government institutions. A case study is beneficial as it can provide an in depth and detailed study of phenomena in its real life context and represent the world of the phenomena to be assessed. The study of three different structures of participatory governance helps to increase the project’s internal validity and is more representative of the reality of participatory governance within the local authority. A case study relies on ‘analytical generalization’ not statistical generalization, in which the researcher is trying to generalize a 3 set of results to a broader theory. This case study will engage in analytical generalization in a design with three analytical units in one geographic location. For example, the analytical units are three structures of participation of in one zone of local governance. Using deliberative and participatory theory to construct a theoretical framework the thesis will engage in a theory testing or applying approach to evaluate civil society participation with research data from original interviews and local authority documents. This study does not analyze one structure of participatory governance but instead attempts to analyze the experience of civil society involvement in local governance within the local authority. This design can assess the institution’s response to participatory governance and potentially find parallels in the response of officials and the experiences of civil society actors’ across the different structures. The selection of informants in qualitative research is purposeful and not random. The selection of interviewees was made on the basis of their role in local governance. Eleven semi-structured interviews or ‘guided conversations’ were conducted with two senior local authority officials, a senior representative of An Gardaí Siochana, three elected representatives and five civil society representatives, some of whom answered followed up questions through email.

Qualitative research which attempts to capture the beliefs, behavior and motivations of the actors involved can provide an important insight into the reality of participation. The frankness of participants resulted in a considerable volume of data which has been condensed and edited due to the constraints of the dissertation word count. In truth, the interviews revealed a large number of issues not all of which could be included in the final project.

Attempts were made to strengthen the internal validity of the study through the gathering of multiple sources of evidence. It is argued a finding from a single case study is more robust if based on different information sources and subsequently triangulated. Therefore, in addition to interviews, the study will make reference to academic secondary sources; local government documents such agendas and minutes of relevant meetings and national government documents, for example Joint Policing Committee (JPC) Guidelines. Agendas and minutes of meetings can help to verify the contributions of the interviewees, identify the range of issues discussed as well as any committee outcomes. In summary, this thesis will engage in an in depth case study of participatory governance in one local authority with the aid of qualitative primary research data gathered from eleven interviews.