Are you involved, man? - a Citizen Involvement Briefing from Article 13

Added: (Fri Apr 25 2003)

Pressbox (Press Release) - In a Briefing released today, Article13, the leading corporate social responsibility experts, examine citizen involvement since the 1960s.

This briefing paper takes a look at citizen involvement since the 1960s, when Sherry Arnstein first put forward her theory of participation.

Has citizen involvement changed since then and how has the geopolitical structure of the world has been changed by mass public protest?

The full article, and more information on the subject, can be found at Article 13's website- www.article13.com.


A brief history of contemporary citizen involvement


1960s

The age of flower power – on the one hand people tuned in, turned out and dropped out of civil society but the world also saw the mass civil involvement in a number of protests. Vietnam, the first ‘media war’, drew huge rallies in the States. Meanwhile in France, students and union workers came together in a series of strikes and protests culminating in those that took place May 1968 – some say the birthplace of today’s sustainable development.

1970s

The UK worked a three-day week through the winter of discontent, with the union and coal miners strike. The geopolitical nature of Europe was forever changed with the breakdown of the Iron Curtain and the liberation of the Eastern bloc.

1980s

Singing women at Greenham Common protesting against nuclear armament reflected the fears of a whole generation of the ‘A-bomb’. The UK public rose up against Maggie Thatcher’s poll tax and by the 1990s had quashed it.

1990s

‘The age of apathy’ where students were chastised for being interested only in furthering their careers. Business started to wake up to the need to take account of the views of citizens with the BabyMilk Action campaign against Nestle and Shell’s Exxon-Valdez and Ken Saro-Wiwa catastrophes. The UK Government recognised that community empowerment is necessary for area-based regeneration and capacity building becomes the theme of the decade.

2000s

Organisations are trying to stimulate citizens to respond to issues that concern them and everywhere consulting with ‘hard to reach’ groups is the mantra. September 11 sparked the two milestone events of the decade so far: Listening to the City – an event designed to gain the views of the citizens of New York on how Ground Zero should be rebuilt was unprecedented in terms of scale and technology; and February 2003 saw mass protest against proposed war in Iraq around the globe, in the UK it was the largest march in living memory.

This is a brief synopsis of the Briefing. The full article, and more information on the subject, can be found at Article 13's website www.article13.com.

Ends


Article 13 work in the area of corporate responsibility and corporate governance for global businesses right across industry, UK and EU Government and the voluntary sector to deliver a new way of doing business. Areas of expertise include scenarios, business planning, supply chain management, culture change, performance measurement and management, web consultancy services, dialogue and communication. Article 13 approaches business responsibility from the mainstream business angle and works through dialogue to unlock the opportunities of business responsibility to deliver innovation and competitive edge.

Article 13's co-directors, Neela Bettridge and Jane Fiona Cumming, have extensive experience in a number of critical fields: commerce and communications, social and environmental arenas, legal and business strategy. Article 13 also draws on the wisdom of distinguished advisors: Dr Paul Toyne, Professor Chris Baines, Chris Hoare, Professor Colin Gilligan, Susan Clayton, Neill Irwin, Professor Dave Owen and Andrew Acland. This panel, in turn, is complemented by a network of specialists drawn from the social, environmental, economic, ethical and business worlds.

For further information please contact Lucy Shea
Article 13
Bradley House
26 St Albans Lane
London NW11 7QE
Tel: 0208 731 7700
Fax: 020 8731 8800
lucys@article13.com
www.article13.com