This April 2013 paper Rachel Burstein of the New America Foundation it subtitled “Understanding local government innovation and how it spreads.” The term “innovation” is often applied to products emerging from the private sector. When innovation is discussed in the context of government, commentators generally concentrate on achievements at the federal level. The popular press rarely devotes attention to innovation in local government, or examines innovation as a process, rather than an output. Yet cities and counties have the capacity to engage and impact wide ... (continue)

This article addresses why it is so difficult for our country to navigate the issue of gun violence and contains suggestions for starting a national conversation. It was written by Sarah Read and Dave Overfelt, both of The Communications Center, Inc. in Columbia, MO with funding from the University of AZ’s National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD).  After the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, NICD called for essays to address the challenges of conducting constructive conversations about gun violence in the U.S. As part of their ... (continue)

This 5-page essay by Regina Kelly, a PhD student at the University of Arizona, was written for the University of AZ’s National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD).  After the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, NICD called for essays to address the challenges of conducting constructive conversations about gun violence in the U.S. As part of their mission, NICD seeks to promote civil discourse on issues of public interest and does not take a policy position on gun violence or gun control but is ... (continue)

The Centre for Public Involvement was proposed in 2009 as a unique partnership between the City of Edmonton and University of Alberta. It was proposed in response to a demonstrated and recognized need for decision-makers and the public to actively seek, consider and apply the most effective means for public involvement. The collaboration is designed to advance research and learning in the area of public involvement, with the objective of enhanced decision-making at all levels. The organization and governance framework established by the partnering organizations ... (continue)

Thinking about reasoning suffers from a failure of vision. Philosophers, social scientists, and others who discuss and analyze reasoning have a particular activity in view: reasoning to figure things out, solve problems, and reach judgments. But there is a different activity we engage in that we call reasoning. We reason in the course of living together, when we are responsive to those with whom we live and neither commanding nor deferring to them, neither manipulating nor ignoring them. Analysis of this second kind of activity ... (continue)

This 2012 publication on citizen participation, local governance and deepening democracy is the product of a collaborative research carried out during an 18-month systematization project. It consolidates the knowledge produced and disseminated by LogoLink, the Learning Initiative on Citizen Participation and Local Governance, over the past 10 years on these themes. (continue)

The purpose of this article (2013) by authors John M. Bryson, Kathryn S. Quick, Carissa Schively Slotterback, and Barbara C. Crosby is to present a systematic, cross-disciplinary, and accessible synthesis of relevant research and to offer explicit evidence-based design guidelines to help practitioners design better participation processes. From the research literature, the authors glean suggestions for iteratively creating, managing, and evaluating public participation activities. The article takes an evidence-based and design science approach, suggesting that eff ective public participation processes are grounded in analyzing the context ... (continue)

The December 2012 issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation focuses on participatory budgeting and its spread across the globe. Guest editors of the issue are long-time NCDD supporting member Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University, Australia, and Brian Wampler from Boise State University. This article is by Hartz-Karp. Participatory Budgeting (PB), an institutional innovation to promote democratic change, is a form of collaborative governance in which citizens are involved in decision-making processes about how to spend part or all of available government funds. Like the broader concept ... (continue)

This article was published in the December 2012 issue of the online Journal of Public Deliberation, which focuses on participatory budgeting and its spread across the globe. Guest editors of the issue are long-time NCDD supporting member Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University, Australia, and Brian Wampler from Boise State University. From article author Brian Wampler: This essay is a reflection piece. I identify key principles at the core of how PB functions and to discuss the scope of change we might expect to see generated ... (continue)

The December 2012 issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation focuses on participatory budgeting and its spread across the globe. Guest editors of the issue are long-time NCDD supporting member Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University, Australia, and Brian Wampler from Boise State University. In this special issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation, multiple faces of Participatory Budgeting programs are revealed. The articles demonstrate that there is no standardized set of “best practices” that governments are adopting, but there are a broader set of principles ... (continue)