Approaches to and Intensification of Civic Participation
The term “civic participation” is somewhat broad. In fact, the term can be categorized into different types according to the intensity of civic involvement in local affairs. (SeeFigure 2)
The basic form of civic participation
involves citizens providing information to their local government. The tax committee and tax education in the case of Huai-Kapi TAO are of this type. These methods of civic participation function as a venue for hearing citizen’s voices. Usually, local authorities receive opinions and feedback from citizens in the course of the decision-making process. Yet, it may be one-way communication if residents do not know whether their feedback has an impact on local government decisions. Thus, these types of civic participation are not deliberative and are an ineffective vehicle for creating public commitment in local affairs (Adams, 2004). In short, this category allows the public to play a very passive role in local government affair.