Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: The central tension in local government in Australia and elsewhere is often characterized as between that of its democratic and service delivery roles.The democratic role of local government is to reflect, through elected officials, the values and aspirations of citizens.To maintain their electoral mandate, elected officials seek to be as responsive as possible to citizen values and aspirations.This role emphasizes the importance of elected officials as actors in the system of representative government.Local government's service delivery role places a different set of demands.Here the focus is on efficiency and effectiveness, a rather narrowly defined private sector view of ensuring that citizens get the best value for money for the services that they receive.The tension between these two roles can be contrasted as one pulling in the direction of being able to do as much as possible for citizens, whilst the other emphasizes doing as little as possible as fast as possible.This tension is not easily resolvable if characterized in this way.This paper draws on public value as a framework for characterizing the role of the public sector and, in particular local government.It posits that the values and aspirations of citizens are not just to be 'received' and 'responded to' by elected representatives as in the traditional model of representative government, but should be engaged with, shaped and informed through enabling participation of citizens in decisions which affect them.This approach changes the roles of local authorities and citizens and strengthens, rather than diminishes, representative government.Through innovative citizen participation both citizens and elected representatives are engaged in a discourse that continually shapes and reshapes the others values and actions.
Author: Roberta Ryan (21127787)
Language: English
Subfield: Public Administration
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2188559121