| Abstrakt: |
Using a longitudinal research approach, the study traces the evolution of political opportunity structures offered by the South African bureaucracy before, during, and following the democratic reform era of the 1990s. For the contemporary research period (2001â"2007), the paper examines how participatory process features of three national air quality decision-processes affected policy dynamics and outcomes. The research reveals that process design decisions of lead agencies, rather than possible capacity constraints of environmental groups, explain the observed participatory nature of the examined decision-processes. It also suggests that microlevel nuances of participatory process features mattered in empowering (or impeding) environmental groups in advancing their demands for pollution control certainty. The finding that agency process design decisions shaped policy dynamics and outcomes triggers the question of what factors explain the observed bureaucratic behavior. The analysis of this issue points to an interaction of political and institutional factors and to a structural tension that emerges when public participation rights are introduced in a parliamentary democracy with a hierarchically controlled bureaucracy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
