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In Canada and elsewhere, the shift from more horizontal models of governance and toward a more organized, diverse, and empowered civil society has sparked renewed interest in citizen involvement. The various dimensions of citizen involvement in policy processes are as follows: (1) mobilizing interest; (2) claims making; (3) knowledge acquisition; (4) spanning and bridging; (5) convening and deliberating; (6) community capacity building; (7) analysis and synthesis; and (8) transparency and feedback. These dimensions play various roles in the following stages of the policy process: (1) problem identification; (1) priority setting; (3) policy formation and design; (4) passage of policy instruments; (5) implementation; and (6) evaluation. An analysis of the adequacy of Canada's existing political institutions in providing for the dimensions of citizen involvement in each of these stages reveals that those institutions are not assuming as effective a part in citizen involvement as they might. Possible types of reforms to address this problem are as follows: (1) improving existing institutions and processes and developing institutionalized mechanisms for funding citizen involvement; (2) creating a new institution for citizen engagement, such as a civic forum; (3) changing culture within government; and (4) investing in civil society, including by promoting strong associational networks and supporting capacity building in voluntary organizations. (Contains 100 references.) (MN)

As part of a larger study (not discussed) ten educated Malaysian citizens were interviewed to find whether their rising political consciousness, over a ten year period (1988-1999), indicated that their transformation was influenced by their culture. The subjects were between 35-45 years old, married, with an average of four children. All were members of the majority race, Malay, and held membership in the United Malay National Organization (UMNO), the biggest political party in Malaysia. The following research questions guided the study: (1) What triggered individuals' transformations; and (2) what facilitated the transformation to occur. Voting patterns in the 10th General Election of 1999 were meshed with interview transcripts. Two themes emerged from the data: (1) abhorrence of political scandals and upheavals during 1998-1999; and (2) a feeling of being intellectually demeaned (lied to by government authorities). The major conclusion of the study was that a political event could trigger perspective shifts and lead to transformative learning if it is perceived as threatening to the communal cultural identity. A second conclusion was that the methods used to handle the national crisis were against participants' cultural and religious values. The researchers believe the study contributed to theoretical explanations of transformative learning among individuals in a developing country. (The bibliography lists 28 references). (AJ)