89
The Role of Government in Institutionalizing Democratic Governance
not be forgotten that it is the responsibility of a democratic government
to adopt and implement policies aimed at the general well-being of the
citizenry as a whole. As one set of analysts noted in the case of the U.S.
government “…if governing institutions are not to lose the confidence
of a public frustrated with their performance, they must not simply
reflect the specialized pressures and every change in public opinion,
no matter how short-sighted and inconsistent. They must govern on
behalf of the common good.”
4
Government should therefore ensure
the use of multiple sources of information throughout the research and
development of public policies. To this end, government must develop
and implement its own mechanisms and capacity to gauge citizen
needs and priorities. Government can both utilize the expertise of
the civil service and the many access points available for citizen input
throughout the governmental structure to collect and analyze data for
application to policy development that both reflects the needs of and
benefits the nation as a whole.
Collaborative Participation in Policy Inplementation
Public opinion research conducted by IRI throughout LatinAmerica has
revealed that, in general, citizens are interested in having opportunities
to engage with their elected representatives and governing institutions.
This polling also reveals that citizens are interested in playing a more
active role in decision-making processes at all levels of government.
While citizens understandably want to feel they have a role to play in
improving their communities, their participation can also be leveraged
to reveal enlightening perspectives on issues, especially issues present in
their own communities.
In effect, government has an invitation to engage citizens in order
to collect local perspectives on issues and, thereby, more effectively
foster local buy-in for new policies. Government also can use these
opportunities to identify ways to best engage local stakeholders in the
implementation of policies. Fostering local partnerships can generate
greater ownership of public actions and determinations as well as
improve the chances of success and the impact that any one policy may
have.
