Croft Commentary

Introduction As governments and governance make the shift toward network models, civic groups are going to have an increasingly important role in accomplishing the public interest. As government transitions toward becoming the "steering" part, nonprofits, for-profits, and other civic organizations will become the "towers" that make policies work. Civic groups, in these conditions, will have an increased role in the policy formulation process. Public policy is determined over a process with multiple stages. Viana (1996) identifies four stages in her model: Agenda setting Formulation Implementation Evaluation The best stages for civic groups to provide input and influence public policy are in the agenda setting, formulation and implementation stages. In this paper I will attempt to demonstrate how civic groups can influence public managers and elected officials in the agenda setting, formulation and implementations stages of public policy...