Public participation in bureaucratic policy-making :the case of the U.S.-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