100 Years of Citizen Voice

• In Event: New Evidence on Citizen Voice in Development Permitting

Abstract

The recency of critiques of citizen voice suggest that this high level of citizen participation in government decision making is relatively new. However, our understanding about the drivers and timing of this rise, the outcomes most impacted by this rise, and the institutional mechanisms through which citizen voice acts remains murky at best. In this project, we use quantitative textual analysis of US federal (and possibly state) statutes from 1925 to the present to date the rise of citizen voice, illuminate the statutory mechanisms through which such voice is mandated or encouraged, and relate this rise to litigation and possibly other outcomes. These findings are bedrock knowledge for constructing a policy solution that better balances the fundamental value of participation with its potential harms. Our overall project asks whether, over the last century, federal statutes have changed to allow or mandate citizen participation. If so, what are the statutory institutional mechanisms for participation? And can we find a relationship between the pattern of changes in participatory institutions and other indicia of citizen participation and cost, such as the extent of litigation or the number of public comments on regulation?

Author

• Leah Brooks, George Washington University
  Presenting Author