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Understanding and intervening in the dynamics of public participation in local governance
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for venue information
Professor
Gerry Stoker
Institute
for Political and Economic Governance at the University of Manchester
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Biography
Gerry
Stoker
is Professor of Political Science in the School
of Social Sciences, the University of Manchester.
He is co-director of the Institute for Political and Economic
Governance at the University
of Manchester
(see www.ipeg.org.uk). He has
held academic
positions at Strathclyde, Essex, Wayne State (Detroit),
and Birmingham
universities and Leicester Polytechnic. He has authored or edited over
20
books, published over 30 refereed articles and a similar number of
chapters in
books.
Professor Stoker's main research interests are in
local government, multi-level governance, partnership, urban politics,
public
service reform, public participation, social capital, non-profit
organisations
and cross-national policy transfer. Between 1992 and 1997 he was
Director of
the ESRC Local Governance Research Programme. In April 2002
Gerry Stoker was appointed director of the
Government-funded five-year evaluation on the new constitutional and
ethical
arrangements that the 2000 Act established in English local government
(see www.elgnce.org.uk).
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In
January 2004 he
set off on work associated with a four year ESRC Professorial
Fellowship. In
October 2004 he started directing the Home Office funded programme of
research
on civil renewal with his colleague Peter John. In November 2004
Professor
Stoker was awarded the UK's Political Studies
Association's Prize
for 'Making a Difference' for his work on governance
In 1998
he published an article in UNESCO's International Social Science
Review under the title
'Governance as
theory: five propositions'. The article is very widely cited and seen
as a
seminal statement on the issue. . He has over the last few years
received
invitations to speak at conferences on governance issues aimed at
practitioners
and policymakers as well as academics from the United States, Japan,
Italy, Norway, Germany, Spain, Denmark, and Australia.
Professor Stoker has also published on broader
approaches to the conduct of political science and is the co-editor of
Theories
and Methods in Political Science that first appeared in 1995 and
will
appear in its second edition in the autumn of 2002.Professor Stoker is
a member
of the editorial board of the two main UK political science journals:
Political
Studies and The British Journal of Politics& International
Relations.
Professor
Stoker has since 1997
acted as
an adviser to the Labour Government on local governance and other
issues. He has been invited to make
presentations and
hold discussions in particular with officials and politicians in No 10,
the
Treasury, the Cabinet Office, the Home Office and ODPM. Professor
Stoker is a
member of the 'sounding board' advising the Minister for Local
Government, Nick
Raynsford. He was the founding Chair of the New Local Government
Network (www.nlgn.org.uk ), the
think tank of the
year in 2004, and remains involved as a trustee. He was a member of the
ODPM/
LGA Balance of Funding review 2003-4. Professor Stoker is also an
expert
advisor to the Council of Europe on local government issues.
Please
click here to download Professor Stoker's presentation (Powerpoint 43
KB).
Minister Candy Broad MLC
Minister for Local Government
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Biography
Minister
Candy Broad was elected as a member of the State of Victoria Legislative Council
for Melbourne
North Province
in September 1999, and was immediately appointed as Minister for Energy
and
Resources, Minister for Ports and Minister Assisting in State and
Regional
Development. In these portfolios, one of
Minister Broad's main responsibilities was the development of the
privatised
energy market in Victoria.
She has also provided policy leadership and governance in the areas of
minerals
and petroleum, climate change, fisheries, commercial ports and marine
safety at
a state and national level.
When the Victorian Labor Government was re-elected in November
2002, Minister Broad was again appointed to the Ministry with the
portfolio responsibilities
of Housing and Local Government. Minister
Broad is currently working on delivering the Government's commitment to
expand
community building efforts and develop partnerships with local
government and
community organisations. She will also be implementing the Government's
housing
strategy. Key planks of the strategy are:
leading national work in Australia
on affordable housing supply; major estate renewal and redevelopment
projects;
and leading the government's response in tackling homelessness.
Minister Broad is currently President of the Eastern
Regional Organisation for Planning and Housing (EAROPH). |
Please
click here to download Minister Broad's presentation (Powerpoint 43
KB).
Forum
Synopsis
Drawing on
extensive research the presentation
starts by offering a diagnostic tool for assessing official schemes to
encourage local participation and provides an outline of remedial
measures that
might be taken to tackle problems. According to the C.L.E.A.R framework
people participate when they can, when they have the resources
necessary to make their argument. People participate when they are part
of
something; they like to participate
because it is central to their sense of identity and they feel engaged.
They
participate when they are enabled to by an infrastructure of civic
organisations. People participate when they are directly mobilized
and asked
for their opinion. Finally people participate when they experience the
system they are seeking to influence as responsive.
Understanding the obstacles confronting participation by communities
can be the
starting point for doing something to overcome those obstacles. The
presentation looks at how obstacles can not only be overcome and where
interventions from local institutions can make a difference. There is
evidence
of a 'locality effect' where a sustained commitment to participation on
the
part of officialdom has overcome obstacles and facilitated and
engagement of
local citizens over time. The speaker
recognises that participation is not a panacea but argues that the
evidence
supports the argument that open up the process of decision-making
brings
intrinsic and instrumental benefits in terms of better services and
programmes.
The presentation argues for an evidence-based and experimental approach
to the
development of participation schemes.
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