"With the clarity of a finely etched drawing and the sparkling craft of a careful researcher, Archon Fung rediscovers the best traditions of American self-government. He introduces us to democracy's heroes in community police beat meetings and school council sessions. Look to the streets, he urges in a book bristling with insight and inspiring stories, a book that should be required reading for every student, scholar and citizen of democracy."--Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor, Harvard Law School, and coauthor of "The Miner's Canary"<P>"For readers who like theory grounded in a careful examination of concrete experience, "Empowered Participation" is a definite treat. Author Archon Fung demonstrates that state and civil society are intertwined in multiple ways, and the details of that intertwining bear importantly on the health of local democracy. Fung displays a remarkable capacity to look at imperfect reforms, assess the gains from these reforms, and draw from these observations an appreciation of what is possible. His concept of accountable autonomy opens a window on how deliberative democracy can work even in unpromising circumstances. Democratic theory and urban politics both stand to profit from this important book."--Clarence Stone, George Washington University<P>"This well-written, briskly argued book represents a significant addition to the field of democratic theory. Fung uses convincing analysis and illuminating case studies to produce a work that will be widely discussed and cited."--Stephen Elkin, University of Maryland, author of "Citizen Competence and Democracy"<P>"Fung combines fine-grained analysis of case studies with well-developed theoretical interests indemocratic empowerment and deliberation. His book is a very fine contribution to a new and exciting genre of democracy studies focused on institutional design."--Mark E. Warren, Georgetown University

provides some much-needed empirical endeavor to a field that is mostly theoretical. . . . [It is] an important work which anyone interested in community organization, civic engagement, community policing, and democratic theory should read.

For readers who like theory grounded in a careful examination of concrete experience, is a definite treat. Author Archon Fung demonstrates that state and civil society are intertwined in multiple ways, and the details of that intertwining bear importantly on the health of local democracy. Fung displays a remarkable capacity to look at imperfect reforms, assess the gains from these reforms, and draw from these observations an appreciation of what is possible. His concept of accountable autonomy opens a window on how deliberative democracy can work even in unpromising circumstances. Democratic theory and urban politics both stand to profit from this important book.

Archon Fung makes an indispensable contribution to deliberative democratic theory.

A wonderful book: theoretically compelling, analytically insightful, empirically careful. It is a highly-skilled merger of arguments in democratic theory and applications in real world situations. It is well-written, clean, (almost) jargon-free and compelling.

Fung combines fine-grained analysis of case studies with well-developed theoretical interests in democratic empowerment and deliberation. His book is a very fine contribution to a new and exciting genre of democracy studies focused on institutional design.

Archon Fung is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is the author, with Erik Olin Wright, of "Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance".

List of Figures and Tables vii

Preface ix

Abbreviations xi

1. Democracy as a Reform Strategy 1

1.1. Empowered Participation as an Administrative Reform Strategy 2

1.2. Accountable Autonomy: An Institutional Design for Empowered Participation 5

1.3. Paths More Traveled: Markets and Public Hierarchies 8

1.4. Origins: Civic Engagement, Pragmatism, and Deliberative Democracy 14

1.5. Mechanisms of Effectiveness 18

1.6. Sources of Fairness 23

1.7. Exploring Accountable Autonomy, in Theory and Practice 26

2. Down to the Neighborhoods 31

2.1. Perils of Patronage: School Governance in the Machine Era 31

2.2. Progressive Reform and Bureaucratic Administration, 1947-980 37

2.3. Legitimation Crisis to Accountable Autonomy, 1980-1988 39

2.4. Progressive Reformers and Machine Policing 44

2.5. Building the Modern Police Bureaucracy in Chicago 47

2.6. Legitimation Crisis in Policing 51

2.7. Toward Community-Centered Policing 53

2.8. Administration as Pragmatic and Participatory Neighborhood Deliberation 56

2.9. Deliberative Problem-Solving in Chicago LCSs 61

2.10.Communities of Inquiry in Chicago Policing 63

2.11.Conclusion 68

3. Building Capacity and Accountability 69

3.1. Dilemmas of Devolution 70

3.2. Training: Schools of Democracy in the Chicago Reforms 73

3.3. Mobilization 74

3.4. Cognitive Templates for Deliberative Governance and Problem-Solving 76

3.5. Bottom-Up, Top-Down Accountability 79

3.6. Enhancing Institutional Background Conditions for Problem-Solving 83

3.7. Networking Inquiry 86

3.8. Redistribution to the Least Capable 89

3.9. Conflicts between Community and the Local State 91

4. Challenges to Participation 99

4.1. Three Stages of Empirical Investigation 99

4.2. The Strong Rational-Choice Perspective 101

4.3. Strong Egalitarianism 108

4.4. Social Capital 119

4.5. Unity and the Politics of Difference 122

4.6. Expertise 128

5. Deliberation and Poverty 132

5.1. Deliberation in Contexts of Poverty and Social Conflict 132

5.2. Initial Conditions: Six Cases in Three Neighborhoods 135

5.3. Southtown Elementary Becomes Harambee Academy 142

5.4. Central Beat: Nonsystematic Problem-Solving 151

5.5. Traxton School: Wealth and Embedded Agreement 159

5.6. Poverty and the Character of Pragmatic Deliberation 170

6. Deliberation in Social Conflict 173

6.1. Bridges across Race and Class in Traxton Beat 173

6.2. Translation and Trust in Southtown Beat 197

6.3. The Discipline of Self-Reflection: Central Elementary under Probation 210

6.4. Beyond Decentralization: Structured Deliberation and Intervention 217

7. The Chicago Experience and Beyond 220

7.1. Lessons from the Street 221

7.2. System-wide Democratic and Administrative Accomplishments 225

7.3. Incomplete Politics and Institutional Instability 228

7.4. Bringing Practice Back into Participatory and Deliberative Democratic Theory 231

7.5. Beyond Chicago 233

7.6. The Promise of Participatory-Deliberative Democracy 241

Notes 243

Selected Bibliography 253

Index 271