Engaging Citizen Participation—A Result of Trusting Governmental Institutions and Politicians in the Portuguese Democracy

Vanda Carreira, João Reis Machado and Lia Vasconcelos
Additional contact information
Vanda Carreira: Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL), Quinta da Torre, Campus Universitário, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
João Reis Machado: Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL), Quinta da Torre, Campus Universitário, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
Lia Vasconcelos: Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL), Quinta da Torre, Campus Universitário, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal

Social Sciences, 2016, vol. 5, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Public participation is a mainstay of democracy. However, the ways in which it can be understood inevitably influence the achievement of the goals that preside over any public policy. Literature argues that the drawbacks of citizen participation are directly related to the level of trust in governmental institutions and in politicians. The present study was carried out on a sample of 250 individuals and aimed to (1) describe citizens’ opinions and trust in politicians and government institutions; and (2) demonstrate that healthy levels of citizen engagement in politics may be upheld as long as citizens trust their political institutions and leaders, through a case study of Portugal’s democratic system. The current study found no statistically significant association between political participation and the study participant’s perception that government representatives heard ( p = 0.769) or considered ( p = 0.810) their opinions. Similarities were found between the participants’ assessments of the quality of life brought about by the decisions of those in power and the levels of citizen participation around land planning and land management ( p = 0.011). Also, citizen assessments of life quality were influenced by their understanding of political decisions ( p = 0.014). Effective communication between citizens and politicians will allow both to better understand the aims of political policy. When citizens believe that politicians are honest, show moral leadership and demonstrate integrity, and that these values are upheld by public institutions, a common aspiration can be realized: improving the quality of life.

Keywords: citizen’s; public participation; trust; politicians; environmental; spatial planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/40/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/40/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:40-:d:75393

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().