THE POLICY IMPACT OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION PROCEDURES

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Abstract
This article represents an effort to assess empirically some of the hypotheses suggested in the citizen participation literature. Selected measures of the strictness of state environmental regulations are used as indicators of the aggressiveness of policy implementation. Simple, partial, and multiple correlation and regression techniques are used to determine whether these substantive aspects of policy vary with the effectiveness of certain citizen participation procedures. The findings suggest that greater opportunities for citizen involvement are associated with more aggressive regulation, but the procedural changes apparently have their greatest effect where “public interest” groups are not already effective.