Dilemmas of Engagement

Table of Contents

Jenny Stewart

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Conceptualising engagement

Engagement and power

Metaphors of engagement: ladders or stars?

Who to engage?

Community

Involved stakeholders

Powerful interests

Other government agencies

Summing up

2. Why engage?

Addressing deficit one: articulating preferences through deliberation

Addressing deficit two: revisiting representation

Addressing deficits three and four: holding public agencies accountable

Are democratic deficits overplayed?

Why engage? The policymaking perspective

Improving information flows

Enhancing diversity

Early warning of problems

Tapping into community resources

Greater problem-solving capacity

Problem solving through enhanced learning

Political management

Summing up

3. The ‘how’ of engagement: contexts and achievements

Consultation

Information exchange

Photographs

Storytelling and anecdote

Electronic networking

Fusing ideas and support

Deliberative forums

Dealing with conflict

Negotiated agreements

Committees of inquiry

Creating participatory governance

Partnerships in service delivery

Multi-actor (participatory) policy making

Participatory budgeting

The role of public servants

Summing up

4. What works for managers? Case studies from the field

Consultation for regulation

Formal and informal channels of consultation

Public and non-public consultation

Managing the politics of consultation

Managing multiple streams

Participatory decision making: natural resource management

Using the right language for engagement

Consultation as learning: the role of parliamentary committees

Speaking to government, speaking to constituents

Managing expectations

Summing up

5. Improving consultation practice

Consultation and the seven bureaucratic sins

Dealing with the silos

Murdi Paaki

Centrelink’s Murray-Darling Basin Project

Consultation when the news is bad

The Traveston Crossing Dam

School closures in the Australian Capital Territory

Local government amalgamations in Queensland

Rural and Remote Area Health Services in Western Australia

‘We arranged a consultation and no-one came’

We could not get political ‘buy-in’

Summing up

6. Risks, opportunities and challenges

Understanding context

What’s your motivation?

Operational risks

Engagement and program implementation

Networking

Collaboration

Co-production

Challenges

Flexibility

Inclusion

Language

Settings

Control

Summing up

7. Conclusion

Bibliography