Thursday, November 20, 2008
[IWS] IILS: PROMISE & PERILS OF PARTICIPATORY POLICY-MAKING [November 2008]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS) at the ILO
Research Series 117
The promise and perils of participatory policy-making
by Lucio Baccaro and Konstantinos Papadakis.
http://www.ilo.org//public/english/bureau/inst/download/rs117.pdf
[full-text, 77 pages]
[excerpt]
There is increasing interest regarding the involvement of nongovernment
organisations in the provision of social services and
other areas of public policy. It is sometimes argued that this kind of "participatory
governance" would help improve service delivery, because
private, not-for-profit actors represent constituencies which are directly
affected by the issue for which a policy solution is sought. Moreover,
participation of such actors in public policy would strengthen democracy.
For example, organisations representing groups like youth, migrants or
indigenous people would have a stronger influence when directly involved
in policy making, than when they operate indirectly through Parliamentary
processes or tripartite social dialogue. Participatory governance is also
supposed to be more efficient, in that participants can operate on the basis
of arguments, rather than lobbying. And, according to the "deliberation
theory", the best arguments will prevail through this process.
The present volume by Lucio Baccaro and Konstantinos Papadakis
examines evidence on the advantages and limitations of participatory
governance. The study compares theoretical predictions with the experience
of South Africa, where policy-making fora open to civil society were
set up as part of the transition from apartheid to democracy.
The authors find little evidence in support of the efficiency and
democracy gains predicted by deliberation theory. Instead, there would
be a risk that the interests of civil society be captured by the State. This
happens when the government exerts a strong influence over the demands
articulated by civil society organizations, and hence over the outcomes of
the participatory process. As a result, the participatory process might not
represent the interests of its constituencies. The study highlights one
remedy to this problem, namely a credible exit option, and, associated
with it, strong mobilization capacities by civil society groups. It shows
that, in South Africa, only the labour movement and few other groups
possess such an exit option.
These findings point to the continued relevance of traditional civil
society action such as tripartite social dialogue which is based on a
combination of dialogue, bargaining and mobilisation rather than deliberation
capacity. Therefore, according to this study and despite the trend
decline in union affiliation observed in many countries, social dialogue
between government, employers and unions remains relevant for addressing
a wide range of key policy issues.
The study has been presented in several academic and research
events, and has received critical comments, including from the leading
German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, one of the main proponents of
deliberation theory.
Table of contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. An Outline of Deliberative Public Administration Theory . . . . . . 5
3. Habermasian Views on Deliberation and Civil Society . . . . . . . . 9
4. The Evolution of Participatory Governance in South Africa . . . . 15
a) Participatory Economic Policy: The Case of NEDLAC . . . . . . 17
b) Participatory Policy-Making and Child Labour . . . . . . . . . . . 26
c) SANAC and the Fight Against HIV-AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5. Building Communicative Power:
A Discussion of Empirical Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6. Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
List of Interviewees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS) at the ILO
Research Series 117
The promise and perils of participatory policy-making
by Lucio Baccaro and Konstantinos Papadakis.
http://www.ilo.org//public/english/bureau/inst/download/rs117.pdf
[full-text, 77 pages]
[excerpt]
There is increasing interest regarding the involvement of nongovernment
organisations in the provision of social services and
other areas of public policy. It is sometimes argued that this kind of "participatory
governance" would help improve service delivery, because
private, not-for-profit actors represent constituencies which are directly
affected by the issue for which a policy solution is sought. Moreover,
participation of such actors in public policy would strengthen democracy.
For example, organisations representing groups like youth, migrants or
indigenous people would have a stronger influence when directly involved
in policy making, than when they operate indirectly through Parliamentary
processes or tripartite social dialogue. Participatory governance is also
supposed to be more efficient, in that participants can operate on the basis
of arguments, rather than lobbying. And, according to the "deliberation
theory", the best arguments will prevail through this process.
The present volume by Lucio Baccaro and Konstantinos Papadakis
examines evidence on the advantages and limitations of participatory
governance. The study compares theoretical predictions with the experience
of South Africa, where policy-making fora open to civil society were
set up as part of the transition from apartheid to democracy.
The authors find little evidence in support of the efficiency and
democracy gains predicted by deliberation theory. Instead, there would
be a risk that the interests of civil society be captured by the State. This
happens when the government exerts a strong influence over the demands
articulated by civil society organizations, and hence over the outcomes of
the participatory process. As a result, the participatory process might not
represent the interests of its constituencies. The study highlights one
remedy to this problem, namely a credible exit option, and, associated
with it, strong mobilization capacities by civil society groups. It shows
that, in South Africa, only the labour movement and few other groups
possess such an exit option.
These findings point to the continued relevance of traditional civil
society action such as tripartite social dialogue which is based on a
combination of dialogue, bargaining and mobilisation rather than deliberation
capacity. Therefore, according to this study and despite the trend
decline in union affiliation observed in many countries, social dialogue
between government, employers and unions remains relevant for addressing
a wide range of key policy issues.
The study has been presented in several academic and research
events, and has received critical comments, including from the leading
German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, one of the main proponents of
deliberation theory.
Table of contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. An Outline of Deliberative Public Administration Theory . . . . . . 5
3. Habermasian Views on Deliberation and Civil Society . . . . . . . . 9
4. The Evolution of Participatory Governance in South Africa . . . . 15
a) Participatory Economic Policy: The Case of NEDLAC . . . . . . 17
b) Participatory Policy-Making and Child Labour . . . . . . . . . . . 26
c) SANAC and the Fight Against HIV-AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5. Building Communicative Power:
A Discussion of Empirical Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6. Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
List of Interviewees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 8:31 AM
