Beyond Elections

Field Note: Citizen Participation Does Build Trust in Government

March 2025

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Proximate

July 2024

March 2025

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Proximate

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In a study published in the journal Public Administration, researchers looked at the factors that shape public attitudes toward government programs – specifically food assistance. Their conclusion: “We find that respondents have more confidence in the efficiency, equity and other aspects of performance when ordinary people play a role in designing and implementing the program.”
So why don’t most European laws that address climate change integrate public participation? An analysis published in Nature found that “few of the acts address public participation, and none of the acts examined directly provides for the participation of specified groups of people based on their presumed vulnerability to climate change impacts.”

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Proximate is an independent media platform covering movements for participatory problem-solving. We look at the news through the lens of money: how it’s given away, how it’s invested, and how it’s distributed by government.
We are a fiscally sponsored project of Movement Strategy Center.

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