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Given the host of tragic events that children experience, it is often compelling for well-intended adults to respond in a protective and charitable fashion. The child rights approach asks for more. Building on their collective experiences in the developmental and social sciences, the authors present in roughly chronological fashion a synopsis of the theoretical explorations and scientific evaluation that completes a framework to advance the status of children as citizens. The recognition of the agency and capability of a child and the dynamic and enduring source of socialization from and social integration within the community are fundamental to this project. The participatory rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child serve as an impetus and inspiration to this project, the Young Citizens Program. What began with small-scale deliberative groups in Chicago matured into a cluster randomized controlled trial in northern Tanzania. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

This paper considers the place of children within liberal-democratic society and its related political morality. The genesis of the paper is two considerations which are in tension with one another. First, that there must be some point at which children are divided from adults, with children denied the rights which go along with full membership of the liberal community. The justification for the difference in the statue between these two groups must be rooted in some notion of capacities, since these are the only relevant differences between adults and children. Second, that linking an individual's capacities to her status undermines the central liberal commitment of political equality. This dilemma explains what I term the threshold view, which holds that children become adult citizens upon reaching an age of competence and that above this level differences in abilities cease to matter to an individual's status. While this view has attractions, this paper argues that this view must eventually be rejected because of its inability to deal with the actual process of human development. In its place, the paper proposes a modification to this view which sees the threshold constrained by moral demands and applied indirectly to age groups rather than individuals. These constraints preserve the commitment to equality in a way consistent with a plausible view of children's place in society.

While various descriptive and prescriptive citizen participation models suggest ways to improve citizen participation, none has been subjected to large‐scale empirical tests. This article develops and tests an organizational theory model that explores the conditions under which citizen involvement as a general strategy can improve administrative decision making. The new model focuses on organizational variables that are more directly subject to managerial influence, such as political support, leadership, red tape, and hierarchical authority, as well as variables related to participant competence and representativeness. Hypotheses are tested with data collected from a national survey of local government managers. The results suggest that public management matters for citizen participation. The conclusion calls for integrating quantitative designs with normative and qualitative citizen participation research.

From the normative point of view, there is a general agreement that representatives should act in line with the interests of those being represented. The knowledge about citizens' preferences for representation is very limited, however. This study examines MP's representative roles from the perspective of the citizens. It utilises a task definition approach in the Finnish institutional setting, which substantially differs from the context of earlier investigations in terms of open‐list electoral systems with mandatory preferential voting. Based on the 2007 Finnish National Election Study (n = 1,422), voters' preferences concerning four different representational roles are analysed: as representatives pursuing the interests of their electoral district, party, individual voters or being independent actors. Next, voters' preferences are accounted for by the factors related to each type of representation: citizens' regional electoral context, party attachment and electoral supply, political engagement and political competence, respectively. The results show that citizens living in electoral districts located far away from the political centre or in constituencies where it is more difficult for small parties to win political representation are most prone to prefer regional representation. Similarly, voters who have closer ties with political parties prefer party‐centred representation while those who feel less politically efficient favour close ties with their MPs. Education in turn increases the support for a political representative to act independently from the electorate or the party.

This article develops the reward-punishment issue model of voting using a newly collated aggregate measure of issue competence in Britain between 1971 and 1997, revealing systematic differences between governing and opposition parties in the way citizens' evaluations of party competence are related to vote intention. Using monthly Gallup "best party to handle the most important problem" and vote intention data, time series Granger-causation tests give support to a classic issue reward-punishment model for incumbents. However, for opposition parties this reward-punishment model does not hold: macro-issue competence evaluations are Granger-caused by changes in vote choice or governing party competence. An explanation is offered based upon the differentiating role of policy performance and informational asymmetries, and the implications are considered for comparative studies of voting, public opinion and for political party competition. Adapted from the source document.

Recent empirical evidence suggests that decentralization challenges the stakes of democratic control by blurring responsibility attribution between levels of government. Exploring the implications of decentralization on accountability requires a better understanding of the conditions under which decentralization affects clarity of responsibility. The theoretical claim in this article is that these conditions are related to the particular design and duration of decentralization arrangements. To test this proposition, individual data from a system where decentralization varies both in design and duration -- the Spanish State of Autonomies -- are used. Results show that clarity of responsibility has worsened where decentralization has adopted a more intertwined (marble-cake) design and that individuals may "learn" on responsibility attribution the longer they experience a particular distribution of competences. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

AbstractThis article develops the reward‐punishment issue model of voting using a newly collated aggregate measure of issue competence in Britain between 1971 and 1997, revealing systematic differences between governing and opposition parties in the way citizens' evaluations of party competence are related to vote intention. Using monthly Gallup 'best party to handle the most important problem' and vote intention data, time series Granger‐causation tests give support to a classic issue reward‐punishment model for incumbents. However, for opposition parties this reward‐punishment model does not hold: macro‐issue competence evaluations are Granger‐caused by changes in vote choice or governing party competence. An explanation is offered based upon the differentiating role of policy performance and informational asymmetries, and the implications are considered for comparative studies of voting, public opinion and for political party competition.

Crises have opened avenues to change and have often shown the way to progress and reform. Examples abound world-wide. Crises have proved beneficial when citizens and governments have taken pains to explore the lessons they may yield and listen to the messages that they contain. The goal in this article is to open a debate which sheds some light on the sources of our current deep malaise and tries to make some sense of the direction which international agencies, and governments at large, would be advised to follow. This article represents the outgrowth of the experience of years of public service on both the national level and, since January 2009, at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Though it does not pretend and should not be construed to represent the views of the UNDP on major global issues, it inevitably reflects the fruit of long hours of work on its behalf, in several parts of the world. Unlike some other inter-regional organizations, the UNDP encompasses all Member States in its remit. For obvious reasons, however, its workaday operations are more directly related to the concerns of developing countries. In democratic governance, which is a major area of UNDP activity, the countries and the regions that are currently undergoing a rapid course of change stand out for consideration. The author of this article has been intensely involved in consultations over this process. Accordingly, what follows reflects, to some extent, the sum of this experience. It happens that my watch has seen years of deep crises, both natural and man-made. Indeed, some of these crises have also demonstrated the measure and the progress of globalization. Events in one part of the world were soon replicated in others. Thus, the uprising in Tunisia soon spread to Libya and Egypt. The financial meltdown, which began in the US, in September 2008, has already migrated to Europe and has not stopped there. In the words of Timothy Geithner, the American Treasury Secretary, addressing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Hawaii, in November 2011, 'We are all directly affected by the crisis in Europe' ( New York Times, 2011c: A7). Though so far its effects have not been evenly felt across the board, this and other crises have shown that the countries that fared better and have been better able to weather the storm but also reap the benefits that come with globalization, were those whose state authorities and local government structures displayed a higher degree of competence, preparedness, commitment and professionalism.

This article makes a contribution to the debate on the 'cooperative, competitive citizen' by detailing the outcomes of a recent study on the theory, policy and practices of participatory citizenship in Europe, commissioned by the European Commission (EC). It underlines the
discussion of how to balance citizen collaboration and competition needs to include the concept of participatory citizenship along with a European dimension. It provides strong evidence that the current economic crisis is distorting the interrelationship between participatory citizenship,
social cohesion and economic competitiveness in policy-making in EU member states with increasing emphasis on the latter (the competitive citizen) at the expense of the former (the collaborative citizen). It details how the impact of this policy shift is already clearly visible through evidence
of major funding cuts on projects and programmes that promote participatory citizenship. It also provides evidence that the current economic crisis has shaken the trust and confidence of citizens across Europe, including young people, in politicians and political institutions. Though people
continue to have a strong belief in the principle of democracy and in the values that underpin participatory citizenship, they increasingly lack trust in current politicians and political institutions. However, it also highlights a number of strategies, based on evidence, for strengthening
policy, practices and citizen engagement in participatory citizenship in Europe and also evidence of the value of promoting participatory citizenship in society. It shows how the key role of learning and education in building civic competence among people, particularly young people, and also
that involvement with volunteering enhances political engagement. Finally, in the context of a growth strategy (such as EU 2020) to alleviate the economic crisis, the Study also highlights that participatory citizenship, economic competitiveness and social cohesion are interrelated and mutually
reinforcing. Thus, countries with characteristics of being highly competitive also tend to be highly participatory with high levels of social cohesion, for example, the Nordic countries.

The European idea will lose more and more of its appeal as long as the European Union and its institutions are not matched by a "Europe of Citizens". Recurring on the example of the initiative "A Soul for Europe" Brigitte Russ-Scherer discusses which responsibilities and possibilities cities and municipalities have for giving the European integration process a lift by involving the citizens. In her view, culture is a fitting level in which tradition and present of border-crossing exchange and mutual influence are to be found. Cities and regions would be a point of focus not only because of their original competence for cultural policies, but also because of their experience in citizens' participation. Adapted from the source document