Date Thesis Awarded

7-2012

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

Public Policy

Advisor

John McGlennon

Committee Members

Joel D. Schwartz

Elaine McBeth

Abstract

The findings presented in this research project add to the limited base of knowledge of an element of local government that has existed since its inception - civic engagement. The local level of government provides a unique opportunity for citizens to voice their opinions and to see their ideas influence various city functions. But these opinions are unheard without work done by successful initiators of engagement. The qualitative and quantitative evidence produced by this investigation increases the understanding of the scene of engagement in 30 United States municipalities and clarifies the current environment of engagement. It also provides an instrument for further investigation into the acts of engagement initiated at the local level. Local government is the level of government where citizens are most interested in being heard, so all attempts to engage citizens at this level deserve careful study in an attempt to categorize these activities. Empirical evidence produced by this study's investigation sheds light on when and why certain acts of engagement are used over others.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Comments

Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.

Download

Share Feedback

On-Campus Access Only

Share

COinS