National Civic Review articles from September 2003

National Civic Review archives from September 2003

Note from the editor.(Introduction)(Editorial)
September 22, 2003... The National Civic League's mission statement declares that NCL is dedicated to "strengthening citizen democracy." Elsewhere we have expanded on our notion of what this means (see most recently "Citizen Democracy" by NCL board chair Dorothy...

The United States of America: democratic exemplar?(Essays)
September 22, 2003... Parts of this essay are drawn from the introduction to Inside the Campaign Finance Battle: Court Testimony on the New Reforms, edited by Anthony Corrado, Thomas E. Mann, and Trevor Potter (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 2003)....

Creating a sandlot for democracy: the study circles resource center's approach to youth engagement.(Essays)
September 22, 2003... Note: The SCRC youth civic engagement program is the product of our entire staff. The author wishes to acknowledge the contributions to this article of Molly Holme Barrett, Sarah Campbell, Amy Malick, Martha McCoy, and Patrick Scully. ...

Should the public meeting enter the information age?(Essays)
September 22, 2003... The public meeting underpins our system of democracy, but it has evolved remarkably little since the founding of the United States. New information technology, including the Internet, offers an opportunity to strengthen the public meeting...

A tool for measuring progress: the growing popularity of sustainable indicators in the United States.(Essays)
September 22, 2003... Cities are perpetually planning and preparing for a better future. But what mechanisms do they use to gauge whether their actions are reaching the goals and vision for the community? A quiet movement that originated outside the world of city...

Election reform arena shifts to States.(Political Reform)
September 22, 2003... Nine months after the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA)--whose passage was sparked by the disputed 2000 presidential vote--became law, the action on election reform has shifted to the state level. State governments are now charged with...

Under BCRA, political parties can't take party-building activities for granted.(Political Reform)
September 22, 2003... The Greenlining Institute believes that campaign finance reform is a pressing civil rights issue comparable to protecting voting rights, affirmative action, and equal opportunity. Campaign finance reform is about ending the modern-day "poll...

Can communities take control of campaigns?(Community Building)
September 22, 2003... Campaigns and elections occupy center stage in American democracy. They should give citizens their best chance to hear and see the candidates, learn about their positions, and influence the direction of government policy. Yet a clear...

Oakland's "strong mayor" reconsidered.(Local Government)
September 22, 2003... Four and a half years after Jerry Brown won Oakland voters' trust to become the city's first "strong mayor," Oakland residents are giving their city charter another look. A Charter Review Committee, formed in April 2003, prepared a list of...