ABSTRACT
Despite the increased attention given to citizen participation by the federal government through a number of dramatic new social programs, the existing work in the field reflects a good many uncertainties about the phenomenon, the difficulty in coming to terms with its implications and the absence of criteria by which to measure its effectiveness and overall worth (Spiegel and Mittenthal, 1968, p. 3). In many contemporary writings in public administration (Denhardt, 1999; Gawthrop, 1998; Vigoda, 2002; Holzer, 1999; Kirlin and Kirlin, 2002), we are confronted by the continued call for citizen participation and engagement in government as if that is an end in itself rather than a means to an end. “While there is something very seductive about the idea that people ought to be directly involved in the decisions that affect their lives; the gap between our ideal and its practice appears to have energized us rather than deterred us” (Roberts, 2004, p. 341). “Despite the warnings of its dangers, limitations, impracticality, and expense, especially in large, complex, heterogeneous, technologically advanced twenty-first century societies, it still remains an ideal that animates many of our theories and beliefs” (Roberts, 2004, p. 341).
