Democracy as Problem Solving

by Briggs, Xavier De Souza

• ISBN13: 9780262026413
• ISBN10: 0262026414
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-30
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Finalist, 2008 C. Wright Mills Award given by the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Complexity, division, mistrust, and "process paralysis" can thwart leaders and others when they tackle local challenges. In Democracy as Problem Solving,Xavier de Souza Briggs shows how civic capacity-the capacity to create and sustain smart collective action-can be developed and used. In an era of sharp debate over the conditions under which democracy can develop while broadening participation and building community, Briggs argues that understanding and building civic capacity is crucial for strengthening governance and changing the state of the world in the process. More than managing a contest among interest groups or spurring deliberation to reframe issues, democracy can be what the public most desires: a recipe for significant progress on important problems. Briggs examines efforts in six cities, in the United States, Brazil, India, and South Africa, that face the millennial challenges of rapid urban growth, economic restructuring, and investing in the next generation. These challenges demand the engagement of government, business, and nongovernmental sectors. And the keys to progress include the ability to combine learning and bargaining continuously, forge multiple forms of accountability, and find ways to leverage the capacity of the grassroots and what Briggs terms the "grasstops," regardless of who initiates change or who participates over time. Civic capacity, Briggs shows, can-and must-be developed even in places that lack traditions of cooperative civic action.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
Foundations	p. 1
Introduction	p. 3
Democracy and Public Problems	p. 27
Managing Urban Growth	p. 47
Managing Urban Growth	p. 49
The Problem and Its Civics
Rethinking the American West	p. 63
A Civic Intermediary and the Movement for "Quality Growth" in Utah
The Grassroots-to-Grasstops Dynamic	p. 89
Slum Redevelopment and Accountability in Mumbai
Restructuring the Economy	p. 121
The Civics of Economic Restructuring	p. 123
The Hyper-organized Region	p. 143
Leading the Next "New Economy" in Pittsburgh
Progressive Regionalism and Entrepreneurial Government	p. 185
Democratization and Competitive Restructuring in the Greater ABC, Brazil
Investing in the Next Generation	p. 219
Leading Change in Child and Youth Well-Being	p. 221
From the Ballot Box to Better Results	p. 231
Cross-Sector Accountability in the San Francisco Children's Movement
Rights, Conflict, and Civic Capacity	p. 257
Meeting the Needs of Poor Children and Families in Postapartheid Cape Town
Lessons	p. 295
Conclusion	p. 297
Notes	p. 317
References	p. 333
Index	p. 359
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