The Rochester project: An examination of participatory democracy for teen pregnancy prevention policymaking
Abstract
An increasingly important political and policy issue is how to find an optimal location for citizens’ voices and input in policymaking processes. Participatory democracy, of which the principles of public participation, idea sharing and deliberation are central, seeks to locate the public within the policymaking process. Certain fields, however, of policy remain dominated by “expert knowledge.” Public health programs and policymaking, in particular, often reflect the contribution of physicians, academics, politicians, business, and government organizations. Despite increasing attention given to participatory methods to include the public in discourse about policy affecting them, “elite” voices still frame policy issues and policy designs. This serves to marginalize public input in policy processes, create designs that reflect a narrow set of values, and overall impede participatory democracy for policy making. Using a single, embedded case study design to examine participatory democracy around teen pregnancy prevention in one policy community, this research examines (and challenges) the underlying assumptions of participatory democracy. I explore how policy actors’ presence, idea sharing, and social constructions together influence the policy processes around teen pregnancy prevention in Rochester, New York. The study finds that despite efforts to employ equal engagement of policy actors, the policy process in this policy community is characterized by unequal social constructions resulting in hierarchical power relations and social struggles among policy actors. The constructions place some actors in “advantaged” positions and others in weaker deferential positions leading to a narrow set of public ideas visible in resulting policy designs on teen pregnancy prevention.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Bartlett, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Public health|Political science|Public administration
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