Toward “Strong Democracy” in Global Cities? Social Capital Building, Theory‐Driven Reform, and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Experience

• Published date: 01 January 2011
• Date: 01 January 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02311.x

Theory to

Practice:

Strengthening

Democracy in

Global Cities

102 Public Administration Review • January | February 2011

Juliet Musso is an associate professor and

Director of Graduate Programs in Public Policy and

Management in the School of Policy, Planning,

and Development (SPPD) at University of Southern

California (USC). She has expertise in federalism

and urban political economy, with specif‌i c research

interests in intergovernmental f‌i scal policy, local

institutional reform, and community governance.

She has published in such journals as American

Review of Public Administration, Nonprof‌i t

and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Social

Forces, Urban Affairs Review, and Political

Communications.

E-mail: musso@usc.edu

Christopher Weare is an associate research

professor and Faculty Director of Online Learning

in the SPPD at USC. He employs social network

analysis to examine how voluntary associations join

communities together and connect them to organs

of governance. He also studies the development

and impacts of e-government. His publications

have appeared in Journal of Public Adminis-

tration Research and Theory, American

Review of Public Administration, Interna-

tional Journal of Public Administration,

Political Communications, and Social Forces.

E-mail: weare@usc.edu

Thomas Bryer is an assistant professor in the

Department of Public Administration at the Univer-

sity of Central Florida. His teaching and research

focus on public participation with government,

citizen engagement, cross-sector collaboration,

and ethics. His work has appeared in such journals

as Public Administration Review, Journal of

Public Administration Research and Theory,

Administrative Theory & Praxis, Journal of

Public Administration Education, American

Review of Public Administration, and In-

ternational Journal of Organization Theory

and Behavior. He also has published chapters in

peer-reviewed books and award-winning teaching

simulations.

E-mail: tbryer@mail.ucf.edu

Terry L. Cooper is the Maria B. Crutcher Profes-

sor in Citizenship and Democratic Values at the

SPPD at USC, where he researches citizen participa-

tion and ethics. He is coeditor of Exemplary Pub-

lic Administrators: Character and Leadership

in Government (Jossey-Bass, 1992) and editor of

Handbook of Administrative Ethics (2nd ed.,

Marcel Dekker, 2001). His articles have appeared in

Public Administration Review, Administra-

tion & Society, International Review of Ad-

ministrative Sciences, International Journal

of Public Administration, Administrative

Theory & Praxis, and International Journal of

Organization Theory and Behavior. Professor

Cooper serves on the editorial board of The

American Review of Public Administration

and is the editor of the Exemplars Prof‌i les series in

the journal Public Integrity. He is a member of the

National Academy of Public Administration.

E-mail: tlcooper@usc.edu

seize the popular imagination in the United States,

especially in urban areas. As articulated by Barber,

strong democracy refers to the need to overcome the

“conduct of politics for private advantage” and to

build self-government involving citizens rather than

representative government conducted solely in the

name of the people (1984, 4).

Given these developments, a host of citizen participa-

tory initiatives have taken place across the United

States.  ese initiatives, in turn, have generated a

spate of excellent and revealing studies assessing

their e cacy. We argue, however, that the broad

institutional prerequisites for successful participatory

institutions that have been the focus of much of the

existing literature do not su ce in the development of

a vibrant participatory system—especially in “global”

cities with highly diverse and mobile populations.

A global (or “world” or “alpha” city) is one deemed

important as a strategic geographic node, creating, fa-

cilitating, and sustaining the global economic system.

We contend that the focus of study and lessons for

researchers and practitioners examining the building

of strong democracy in global cities (and elsewhere)

should shift to the details of design and the processes

of implementation.  ese factors act as important

constraints on the development of participatory

systems, and they can advance, foil, or attenuate the

aims of those trying to advance strong democracy in

twenty- rst-century urban areas. We also argue that

universities and foundations have constructive roles to

play in advancing this cause, as long as they under-

stand the paradoxical nature of their involvement as

neutral facilitators of that process.

Our argument is founded on a longitudinal study

involving 10 years of action research and evaluation

of the neighborhood council system in a major global

city in the United States: Los Angeles (LA). To add

to the generalizability of these  ndings, we compare

them to those from related studies on participatory

mechanisms and deliberative processes more ge nerally.

We also delve deeper into the LA experience than

With faith in government waning, cultural diversity

spiraling, and  scal stress straining the ability of policy

makers to address the policy challenges accompanying these

developments, the salience of (re)connecting citizens with

government takes on renewed urgency today. Nowhere is

this more the case than in urban America, where so-called

global cities teeming with ethnic diversity and controlling

a disproportionate amount of global business in the

world economy confront profound citizen participation

challenges, choices, and opportunities. In this installment

of  eory to Practice, the authors cull lessons from their

10-year action theory–based assessment and participation

in the city of Los Angeles’ neighborhood council experience.

Comparing and contrasting their  ndings in this global

city with those from related studies on participatory

mechanisms and deliberative processes more generally,

they o er six lessons for those seeking to build stronger

democracy in urban areas, argue that further advances

require a greater research focus on the longitudinal

implementation of these e orts rather than just on their

design, and contend that university researchers have a

role to play in these e orts as long as they appreciate the

paradoxical nature of their participation.

Expert e-commentary by Brian Cook of Virginia

Tech, Tina Nabatchi of Syracuse University, and John

 omas of Georgia State University on the perspectives

and arguments culled from Los Angeles’ theory-based

participatory e orts can be found on the PAR website

(go to aspanet.org, click on the link to PAR, and then on

the  eory to Practice link).  ese e-commentaries are

accompanied by the authors’ response and instructions on

how PAR readers can join the exchange.

Perceptions of the appropriate role of citizens

and other stakeholders in governance have

evolved considerably through several histori-

cal transitions, from the limited direct involvement

established by the nation’s founders to the more

recent emergence of community-based institutions for

participation (Sirianni and Friedland 2001). Indeed,

during the 1990s, an interest in “strong democracy”

and building “social” and “civic” capital began to

Toward “Strong Democracy” in Global Cities? Social Capital

Building,  eory-Driven Reform, and the Los Angeles

Neighborhood Council Experience

Robert F. Durant, Editor

Juliet Musso Terry L. Cooper

Christopher Weare University of Southern California

University of Southern California

Thomas Bryer

University of Central Florida