Insights and Applications - Participatory Democracy, Representative Democracy, and the Nature of Diffuse and Concentrated Interests: A Case Study of Public Involvement on a National Forest District

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Insights and Applications - Participatory Democracy, Representative Democracy, and the Nature of Diffuse and Concentrated Interests: A Case Study of Public Involvement on a National Forest District
Authors: Christine Overdevest
Source: Society & Natural Resources. 13:685-696
Publisher Information: Informa UK Limited, 2000.
Publication Year: 2000
Subject Terms: 05 social sciences, 10. No inequality, 16. Peace & justice, 01 natural sciences, 0506 political science, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Description: To evaluate whether public involvement on a national forest district fairly represents the public's values, this article proposes four hypothesis tests. First, it is hypothesized that public-involvement programs operate according to a participatory democracy logic, in which broad cross sections of the public participate in public involvement opportunities. A second hypothesis is tested that public involvement reflects a representative democracy process in which interest groups participate yet represent the underlying distribution of issue interests of the public at large. Because the findings indicate that interest groups do outcompete the public in participation, two additional perspectives are entertained. A political economic perspective is considered that posits that the incentive structure characterizing different interests defines participation. This perspective is contrasted with a perspective that argues that environmental "elites" prevail in participation and in the process misrepresent the publi...
Document Type: Article
Language: English
ISSN: 1521-0723
0894-1920
DOI: 10.1080/08941920050121945
Access URL: https://srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/ja_overdevest001.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08941920050121945
Accession Number: edsair.doi.dedup.....4d3950b9972016ceb51ee34a845dea89
Database: OpenAIRE
Description
Abstract:To evaluate whether public involvement on a national forest district fairly represents the public's values, this article proposes four hypothesis tests. First, it is hypothesized that public-involvement programs operate according to a participatory democracy logic, in which broad cross sections of the public participate in public involvement opportunities. A second hypothesis is tested that public involvement reflects a representative democracy process in which interest groups participate yet represent the underlying distribution of issue interests of the public at large. Because the findings indicate that interest groups do outcompete the public in participation, two additional perspectives are entertained. A political economic perspective is considered that posits that the incentive structure characterizing different interests defines participation. This perspective is contrasted with a perspective that argues that environmental "elites" prevail in participation and in the process misrepresent the publi...
ISSN:15210723
08941920
DOI:10.1080/08941920050121945