Public participation in bureaucratic policy-making: The case of the United States-Mexico Border Environment Cooperation Commission

This study explores the conditions under which citizens are able to integrate themselves into bureaucratic policy-making and influence decisions. It poses three key research questions: How do bureaucracies structure their interaction with citizens? Under what conditions are public participants able to influence decisions? Are all policy issues equally susceptible to influence? I investigate these questions in the context of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC), a U.S-Mexico agency established in 1993.; The study adopts a theory of citizen-bureau interaction. The theory suggests agencies structure interaction with citizens according to their degree of tolerance for public intervention. It proposes that two key variables—(1)  citizen resources and (2) stability of the political environment—affect agency responsiveness and influence citizens' ability to penetrate and impact bureaucratic policy-making. The theory predicts that when citizen resources are high, citizen-bureau interaction will be “cooperative” if the environment is stable; “cooptative” if the environment is unstable. I modify the theory to reflect the insight that even if an agency tolerates public participation , citizen influence is likely to vary according to the policy issue at stake. Citizen influence is predicted to be stronger regarding “procedural” issues; weaker regarding “substantive” issues.; Data were collected through (1) analysis of media reports, official BECC materials, and email postings to the “BECCNet” Internet listserv; and (2) structured interviews with 33 Mexican and U.S. BECC officials and public advocates. The “concurrence” and “perceptual” methods were employed to gauge sources of agreement, influence, expertise, support, and instability in the BECC policy arena.; The citizen resources variable—as measured by expertise, support, and institutionalization—is associated with BECC's increasing tolerance and the policy impact of key sectors of the general public. However, the political environment variable did not operate as predicted. BECC actions do not support the expectation that an agency will make extraordinary efforts (cooptation ) to integrate citizens into policy-making when citizen resources are high and the environment is unstable. Finally, citizens' groups had the strongest impact regarding procedural issues and a weaker impact regarding substantive issues. The study concludes by highlighting implications of the findings.