TY - CHAP
T1 - Building the Bridge
T2 - A Methodology for Connecting the Aspiration and Practicalities of Public Input and Political Leadership
AU - Lees-Marshment, Jennifer
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Political leadership is undergoing a profound evolution that changes the role that politicians — and the public — play in decision-making in democracy. Rather than simply wait for voters to exercise their judgement in elections, political elites now use an increasingly varied range of public input mechanisms, including consultation, deliberation, informal meetings, travels out in the field, visits to the frontline and market research to obtain feedback before and after they are elected. Whilst politicians have always solicited public opinion in one form or another, the nature, scale and purpose of mechanisms that seek citizen involvement in policymaking are becoming more diversified and extensive. Government ministers collect public input at all levels of government, across departments, and through politician’s own offices, in many different ways and at all stages of the policy process. Such input is at present uncoordinated, dispersed and often even unseen, but if added together would represent a vast amount of money and resources spent seeking views from outside government. Furthermore, world leaders and senior politicians are increasingly talking of working in partnership with the public, initiating highly visible public input exercises and conceding they themselves do not have all the answers. President Barack Obama has noted that ‘government does not have all the answers,’ that there is a need to find new ways of ‘tapping the knowledge and experience of ordinary Americans’ and that ‘the way to solve the problems of the time is by involving the American people in shaping the policies that affect their lives’
AB - Political leadership is undergoing a profound evolution that changes the role that politicians — and the public — play in decision-making in democracy. Rather than simply wait for voters to exercise their judgement in elections, political elites now use an increasingly varied range of public input mechanisms, including consultation, deliberation, informal meetings, travels out in the field, visits to the frontline and market research to obtain feedback before and after they are elected. Whilst politicians have always solicited public opinion in one form or another, the nature, scale and purpose of mechanisms that seek citizen involvement in policymaking are becoming more diversified and extensive. Government ministers collect public input at all levels of government, across departments, and through politician’s own offices, in many different ways and at all stages of the policy process. Such input is at present uncoordinated, dispersed and often even unseen, but if added together would represent a vast amount of money and resources spent seeking views from outside government. Furthermore, world leaders and senior politicians are increasingly talking of working in partnership with the public, initiating highly visible public input exercises and conceding they themselves do not have all the answers. President Barack Obama has noted that ‘government does not have all the answers,’ that there is a need to find new ways of ‘tapping the knowledge and experience of ordinary Americans’ and that ‘the way to solve the problems of the time is by involving the American people in shaping the policies that affect their lives’
U2 - 10.1057/9781137017789_1
DO - 10.1057/9781137017789_1
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9781349437191
T3 - Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership
SP - 1
EP - 22
BT - The Ministry of Public Input
PB - Palgrave Macmillan
ER -