Rob Weymouth | Curtin University (original) (raw)

Papers by Rob Weymouth

Research paper thumbnail of Principles for Integrating the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Cities

The implementation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in the urban centres of the world is... more The implementation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in the urban centres of the world is one of the most consequential and ambitious projects that the nations of the world have undertaken. Guidance for achieving the goals in an integrated way that creates true sustainability is currently lacking because of the wicked nature of the problem. However, its wickedness highlights the critical importance of governance and decision-making processes for such integration, including the relationship between governments and their citizens. In particular, there is strong evidence to suggest that managing wicked problems like the SDGs is best done through forms of democracy that are deliberative, representative and influential. Called "deliberative democracy", we draw on an existing body of research and case studies of deliberative democracy in action to apply its principles to a step-by-step process for the implementation and integration of the Goals in Cities. The paper concludes with the beginnings of a framework based on deliberative democratic principles, and an outline of methods for the scaling and expansion of the implementation process to cope with the global nature of the problem.

Research paper thumbnail of Repairing Political Trust for Practical Sustainability

Sustainability, 2020

High levels of trust in government are important in addressing complex issues, including the real... more High levels of trust in government are important in addressing complex issues, including the realization of the mainstream sustainability agenda. However, trust in government has been declining for decades across the western world, undermining legitimacy and hampering policy implementation and planning for long-term sustainability. We hypothesize that an important factor in this decline is citizen disappointment with the current types of public participation in governance and that this could be reversed through a change from informing/consulting to a relationship of partnership. Using case studies from Western Australia, the paper investigates whether an intervention targeted at establishing a partnership relationship through mini-public, deliberative, participatory budgeting would improve trust and help the implementation of sustainability. These results show evidence of improvements in trust and provide conceptual and practical tools for government administrations wishing to close the detrimental trust gap that may hamper the implementation of a sustainability agenda.

Research paper thumbnail of Participation in planning and governance: Closing the gap between satisfaction and expectation.

Background: Making and implementing decisions to improve long term sustainability, particularly i... more Background: Making and implementing decisions to improve long term sustainability, particularly in democraticcountries, is a significant challenge. This is exacerbated when citizens ’ expectations of their relationship with government is significantly at odds with what they experience, since this is likely to further reduce their already low trust in government and its decision-making. Research in the USA has demonstrated a clear gap between citizens ’ expectations of their participation in government and their satisfaction with that participation. This finding inspired a research project in regional Western Australia to determine if a similar gap existed between citizens ’ expectations and experience of their relationship with government. Additionally, a public participation intervention was devised to determine whether the gap between citizens ’ expectations of, and experience with, governance could be reduced and whether the decisions made from such an intervention would be more implementable. To better reflect the partnership relationship citizens expected from government, ‘ deliberative democracy ’ initiatives were implemented to resolve the local government ’ s budgeting challenges.
Results: The results demonstrated that a similar gap to that in the USA was present in Western Australia community and the sample populations used in the partnership interventions. Further, the citizens ’ experience of deliberative democracy substantially reduced the gap between their expectations and experience of government participation. These case studies also revealed the existence and details of the nature of this partnership relationship between citizens and government as well as between the citizens themselves. Moreover, the tough budgetary decisions they made were implemented without public outcry.
Conclusions: These case studies show a promising route to close the gap between citizen expectations and satisfaction with participation in government, as well as having the potential to increase the trust in government so necessary for advances in sustainability. Future research directions have been outlined to improve understanding of how these results could impact on sustainability efforts.

Research paper thumbnail of Deliberative Collaborative Governance as a Democratic Reform to Resolve Wicked Problems and Improve Trust

A persistent and increasing governance challenge has appeared in the last several decades in matu... more A persistent and increasing governance challenge has appeared in the last several decades in mature
democracies at all levels from national to local that stems from declining trust levels in government by citizens.
Thi s lack of trust leads to multiple policy implementation problems for governments, city and regional local
governments alike, especially those facing complex sustainability issues - wicked problems
A process known as deliberative collaborative governance that enables more meaningful public participation
in issues that matter, with greater decision-making transparency, accountability and perceived legitimacy, has
been demonstrably effe ctive in helping to redress the governance gap.
National and international examples of deliberative collaborative governance over the last two decades
illustrate the potential of this method to close the governance gap. A four year action research case study in a
regional town in Western Australia is used to illustrate how deliberative collaborative governance has
positively affected the implementation of local government policy and operations including their responses to
wicked problems, and reduced the governance gap.

Research paper thumbnail of Deliberative Collaborative Governance as a Democratic Reform to Resolve Wicked Problems and Improve Trust

Journal of Economic and Social Policy, 2015

A persistent and increasing governance challenge has appeared in the last several decades in ... more A persistent and increasing governance challenge has appeared in the last several decades in mature democracies at all levels from national to local that stems from declining trust levels in government by citizens. This lack of trust leads to multiple policy implementation problems for governments, city and regional local governments alike, especially those facing complex sustainability issues - wicked problems. A process known as deliberative collaborative governance that enables more meaningful public participation in issues that matter, with greater decision-making transparency, accountability and perceived legitimacy, has been demonstrably effective in helping to redress the governance gap. National and international examples of deliberative collaborative governance over the last two decades illustrate the potential of this method to close the governance gap. A four year action research case study in a regional town in Western Australia is used to illustrate how deliberative collaborative governance has positively affected the implementation of local government policy and operations including their responses to wicked problems, and reduced the governance gap.

Books by Rob Weymouth

Research paper thumbnail of Deliberative Democracy-democratic renewal capable of addressing sustainability

Research paper thumbnail of Australian Participatory Budgeting Introduction: Participatory Budgeting the Australian Way

Research paper thumbnail of Principles for Integrating the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Cities

The implementation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in the urban centres of the world is... more The implementation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in the urban centres of the world is one of the most consequential and ambitious projects that the nations of the world have undertaken. Guidance for achieving the goals in an integrated way that creates true sustainability is currently lacking because of the wicked nature of the problem. However, its wickedness highlights the critical importance of governance and decision-making processes for such integration, including the relationship between governments and their citizens. In particular, there is strong evidence to suggest that managing wicked problems like the SDGs is best done through forms of democracy that are deliberative, representative and influential. Called "deliberative democracy", we draw on an existing body of research and case studies of deliberative democracy in action to apply its principles to a step-by-step process for the implementation and integration of the Goals in Cities. The paper concludes with the beginnings of a framework based on deliberative democratic principles, and an outline of methods for the scaling and expansion of the implementation process to cope with the global nature of the problem.

Research paper thumbnail of Repairing Political Trust for Practical Sustainability

Sustainability, 2020

High levels of trust in government are important in addressing complex issues, including the real... more High levels of trust in government are important in addressing complex issues, including the realization of the mainstream sustainability agenda. However, trust in government has been declining for decades across the western world, undermining legitimacy and hampering policy implementation and planning for long-term sustainability. We hypothesize that an important factor in this decline is citizen disappointment with the current types of public participation in governance and that this could be reversed through a change from informing/consulting to a relationship of partnership. Using case studies from Western Australia, the paper investigates whether an intervention targeted at establishing a partnership relationship through mini-public, deliberative, participatory budgeting would improve trust and help the implementation of sustainability. These results show evidence of improvements in trust and provide conceptual and practical tools for government administrations wishing to close the detrimental trust gap that may hamper the implementation of a sustainability agenda.

Research paper thumbnail of Participation in planning and governance: Closing the gap between satisfaction and expectation.

Background: Making and implementing decisions to improve long term sustainability, particularly i... more Background: Making and implementing decisions to improve long term sustainability, particularly in democraticcountries, is a significant challenge. This is exacerbated when citizens ’ expectations of their relationship with government is significantly at odds with what they experience, since this is likely to further reduce their already low trust in government and its decision-making. Research in the USA has demonstrated a clear gap between citizens ’ expectations of their participation in government and their satisfaction with that participation. This finding inspired a research project in regional Western Australia to determine if a similar gap existed between citizens ’ expectations and experience of their relationship with government. Additionally, a public participation intervention was devised to determine whether the gap between citizens ’ expectations of, and experience with, governance could be reduced and whether the decisions made from such an intervention would be more implementable. To better reflect the partnership relationship citizens expected from government, ‘ deliberative democracy ’ initiatives were implemented to resolve the local government ’ s budgeting challenges.
Results: The results demonstrated that a similar gap to that in the USA was present in Western Australia community and the sample populations used in the partnership interventions. Further, the citizens ’ experience of deliberative democracy substantially reduced the gap between their expectations and experience of government participation. These case studies also revealed the existence and details of the nature of this partnership relationship between citizens and government as well as between the citizens themselves. Moreover, the tough budgetary decisions they made were implemented without public outcry.
Conclusions: These case studies show a promising route to close the gap between citizen expectations and satisfaction with participation in government, as well as having the potential to increase the trust in government so necessary for advances in sustainability. Future research directions have been outlined to improve understanding of how these results could impact on sustainability efforts.

Research paper thumbnail of Deliberative Collaborative Governance as a Democratic Reform to Resolve Wicked Problems and Improve Trust

A persistent and increasing governance challenge has appeared in the last several decades in matu... more A persistent and increasing governance challenge has appeared in the last several decades in mature
democracies at all levels from national to local that stems from declining trust levels in government by citizens.
Thi s lack of trust leads to multiple policy implementation problems for governments, city and regional local
governments alike, especially those facing complex sustainability issues - wicked problems
A process known as deliberative collaborative governance that enables more meaningful public participation
in issues that matter, with greater decision-making transparency, accountability and perceived legitimacy, has
been demonstrably effe ctive in helping to redress the governance gap.
National and international examples of deliberative collaborative governance over the last two decades
illustrate the potential of this method to close the governance gap. A four year action research case study in a
regional town in Western Australia is used to illustrate how deliberative collaborative governance has
positively affected the implementation of local government policy and operations including their responses to
wicked problems, and reduced the governance gap.

Research paper thumbnail of Deliberative Collaborative Governance as a Democratic Reform to Resolve Wicked Problems and Improve Trust

Journal of Economic and Social Policy, 2015

A persistent and increasing governance challenge has appeared in the last several decades in ... more A persistent and increasing governance challenge has appeared in the last several decades in mature democracies at all levels from national to local that stems from declining trust levels in government by citizens. This lack of trust leads to multiple policy implementation problems for governments, city and regional local governments alike, especially those facing complex sustainability issues - wicked problems. A process known as deliberative collaborative governance that enables more meaningful public participation in issues that matter, with greater decision-making transparency, accountability and perceived legitimacy, has been demonstrably effective in helping to redress the governance gap. National and international examples of deliberative collaborative governance over the last two decades illustrate the potential of this method to close the governance gap. A four year action research case study in a regional town in Western Australia is used to illustrate how deliberative collaborative governance has positively affected the implementation of local government policy and operations including their responses to wicked problems, and reduced the governance gap.