dropped precipitously and people seem quite cynical about the means and motives
of politicians. The gap between leaders and citizens seems substantially
greater than before. In fact, Barber points out the irony that while democracy
needs both strong leadership and vigorous citizenship, strengthened leadership,
especially when it is associated with the manifest exercise of power,
may in fact undermine a more active, participatory citizenship (1998).
Active citizenship may also be discouraged by the professionalization of
government and its increasing dependence on “experts.” As expert advice is
increasingly heralded as essential to solving the problems faced by modern
government, the opinions of ordinary citizens are largely devalued. Under
these circumstances, officials and administrators may be inclined to disregard
views they dismiss as lacking clarity and sophistication. Indeed, having to
listen to such views becomes an “annoyance” interfering with the resolution
of the technical problems that experts are trained to solve. Moreover,
ordinary citizens may themselves become overwhelmed by the intricacies
of problems and feel they have nothing to contribute—even though their
“common sense” may be extremely valuable.