Participation in neighborhood governance and its influence on sense of community, capacity, and legitimacy.

摘要

This study examines the effect of participation in neighborhood associations on citizens' sense of community, capacity, and legitimacy. Despite their existence in nearly every American city, neighborhood associations are frequently ignored in research on political participation. Within the framework of liberal democratic theory, "political" participation is often restricted to electoral participation within the sphere of government. Since neighborhood participation takes place in the social sphere of community rather than the political sphere of government, it is considered "social" participation and is generally excluded from most studies of "political" participation.Using a conceptual framework based on participatory democracy democratic governance theory, this study conceptualizes political and participation as any activity that involves direct participation in decision making, such as participation in neighborhood associations. This study hypothesizes that neighborhood participation increases citizens' sense of legitimacy as measured by representation, responsiveness, and trust in government enhances citizens' sense of political capacity as measured by political efficacy and participation spillover and contributes to citizens' overall sense of community. Based on a secondary analysis of data from the National Citizen Participation Development Project, this study finds strong support for neighborhood participation's effect on political capacity, moderate support for neighborhood participation's effect on sense of community, and weak support for neighborhood participation's effect on legitimacy.These findings are interpreted to suggest that public administration should be as concerned with the process of governance in non-government settings as it is with the process of government within public institutions. This argument bears directly upon the crisis of legitimacy that confronts the discipline. Much of public administration theory and practice seeks to legitimize the administrative state through rational and efficient government. Using a normative approach, democratic governance theory argues that the proper scope of public administration is the process of governance rather than merely the institution of government, and that the legitimacy of government rests upon the active participation of citizens. Neighborhood associations represent active participation by citizens in the process of governance. The developmental and legitimizing effects of such participation should be of interest to those seeking to improve the relationship between citizens and the state.