Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Securing An Effective Voice For Citizens In Intergovernmental Administrative Decision Making, Maria J. D'Agostino

Publications and Research

Intergovernmental administrative arrangements, often obscured from public view, are responsible for public decisions and their consequences. After European Union citizens expressed dissatisfaction with the disconnected administrative decision-making process by rejecting the European Constitution, the European Commission called for a period of reflection to develop tools and processes in order to involve citizens in the decision-making process.

This article examines collaborative efforts by the European Union to involve citizens in the shaping of national priorities. In-depth interviews were conducted with the heads of nonprofit organizations and staffers at nonprofits involved with organizing the European Citizens’ Consultations (ECC). All the organizations are …

Volunteers: Beyond Government Partners, Maria J. D'Agostino

Publications and Research

Over the past several years, practitioners and academics have expressed concern about the deteriorating morale and effectiveness of the federal civil service, given its aging workforce and the competition with the private sector for human capital. Recruiting qualified public servants is complicated by the negative perception of government. Attacks by politicians of all sides have contributed to a negative stereotype of the American civil service. Therefore, finding new ways to recruit and retain the best-qualified young graduates has become critical. This paper reports on an untapped resource – volunteers, explores the youth volunteer activity that occurs in the federal government, …

Weaving Color Lines: Race, Ethnicity, And The Work Of Leadership In Social Change Organizations, Sonia Ospina, Celina Su

Publications and Research

For social change organizations working to address intractable social problems throughout the USA, tackling race may not only be unavoidable; it may represent a way to fully engage stakeholders in social change work. We argue that illuminating the relationship between race and leadership can advance our under- standing of how social change leadership happens in practice. We build upon scholarship that emphasizes the ways in which seemingly essentialist, intractable racial categories are actually mutable, and the simultaneous emergence of academic research calling attention to the constructed and collective dimensions of leadership. Using a constructionist lens to analyze narratives from 22 …