Civic Engagement and Fiscal Stress in American Cities

• Published date: 01 December 2014
• Date: 01 December 2014
• Author: Marcia L. Godwin
• DOI: 10.1177/0160323X14562965
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Civic Engagement and Fiscal

Stress in American Cities:

Insights from the

Great Recession

Marcia L. Godwin

1

Abstract

The Great Recession had a major effect on the provision of local public services. This article

examines civic engagement before, during, and after the Great Recession using data from State of the

Profession surveys sponsored by the International City/County Management Association. This study

finds that cities increased their use of technology to inform citizens during the recession, but there

were declines in the use of citizen surveys and strategic plans. The cities that were most impacted by

the downturn had greater support for civic engagement activities in the aftermath of the Great

Recession. The results indicate that fiscal stress impacts civic engagement in complex ways.

Keywords

civic engagement, citizen participation, local governments, cities, Great Recession, fiscal stress

Introduction

The onset of the Great Recession in 2007

occurred as there was growing professional and

academic interest in local civic engagement

efforts. This article seeks to enhance our under-

standing of the association between civic

engagement and fiscal stress. As city and

county governments emerge from the Great

Recession, it is also important to document how

managers perceive the value of civic engage-

ment efforts and any variations in the use of dif-

ferent civic engagement strategies.

There are conflicting views about the likely

use of civic engagement strategies, as local

governments responded to the Great Recession.

Leaders may have believed that having citizen

participation would lead to fewer controversies

related to tough budget decisions. However,

local governments often rely upon traditional

cutback management practices when fiscally

stressed (Ammons, Smith, and Stenberg 2012;

Levine 1978, 1979; Perlman and Benton

2012; Stenberg 2011). If civic engagement

efforts were perceived as taking away resources

from core programs, then civic engagement

activities would have suffered during the recent

recession.

Similarly, there are differing expectations

about support for civic engagement as local

economies began to recover. ‘‘An extended

1

Department of Public and Health Administration,

University of La Verne, La Verne, CA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Marcia L. Godwin, Department of Public and Health

Administration, University of La Verne, 1950 Third Street,

CBPM 123, La Verne, CA 91750, USA.

Email: mgodwin@laverne.edu

State and Local GovernmentReview

2014, Vol. 46(4) 249-259

ªThe Author(s) 2014

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X14562965

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