The Role of the University as a Mediating Institution in Neighborhood Council-City Agency Collaboration

Abstract

In a representative democracy, citizens depend on their public representatives and administrators to act on their behalf. However, city agencies often fail to respond to the needs of the people, who feel alienated from city hall because of the gap between expectations and reality, and this gap leads to a lack of trust between citizen groups and city administrators. Citizen participation in governance, especially in the form of neighborhood councils, is suggested as one solution to overcome this declining trust, because neighborhood councils can be an effective vehicle to collaborate with city agencies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pradeep Chandra Kathi

Pradeep Chandra Kathi, ABD, is a doctoral candidate in public administration in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. He has an engineering degree from the India Institute of Technology, Madras, and a master’s degree in management from Willamette University. He has more than a decade of experience with the senior civil service in India. He was the co-principal investigator and lead research assistant on the Collaborative Learning Project, which was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. His research interests are in the fields of deliberative democracy, citizen participation in governance, empowering neighborhood organizations, and the ethics of administration.

Terry L. Cooper

Terry L. Cooper is the Maria B. Crutcher Professor in Citizenship and Democratic Values in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development. He was the founder of the Neighborhood Participation Project and is currently the director of the Civic Engagement Initiative in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development. Cooper’s doctorate is in social ethics from the University of Southern California, and his research centers on citizen participation and ethics in government. Currently he is director of the USC Civic Engagement Initiative and is one of the co-principal investigators in the USC Neighborhood Participation Project.

Jack W. Meek

Jack W. Meek is a professor of public administration at the College of Business and Public Management at the University of La Verne, and has been working with the Neighborhood Participation Project at the School of Policy Planning and Development at the University of Southern California since 2003. Meek’s research focuses on citizen participation and engagement, metropolitan governance, and the emergence of cross-jurisdictional administrative connections, in regional collaboration.