Ineffectiveness of individual participation in large communities

The size of the political community is so large today that its members are separated from its leaders simply by their number. Individuals have little effective voice in local government except when the units of local government are autonomous, self-governing, self-budgeting communities and are small enough to create the possibility of an immediate link between the man-in-the-street and his local officials and elected representatives. Government becomes invisible as it leaves the realm of most citizens' daily lives; popular referenda are infrequent and decisions are via political machinery and rules of expediency with little concern for the long-term interests of the individuals in the electorate.

1. Stultifying homogeneity of modern cities
2. Restricted opportunity for community activity
3. Reluctance to join in community action
4. Lack of participation by local communities in democratic processes
5. Ineffectiveness

1. Uncontrolled urban development
2. Bureaucracy as an organizational disease

1. Unrepresentative leaders
2. Undermined citizen confidence
3. Isolation of trade union members from their representatives
4. Inadequate grass-roots initiative
5. Impersonality of public squares in cities
6. Decline in civic participation

1. Structural failure of citizen participation
2. Self-image unrelated to the external world
3. Growing size and impersonality of firms

1. Unbalanced urban population density gradients
2. Unattractive pedestrian environments in urban areas
3. Self-conception of ethical void
4. Insufficient separation among urban subcultures
5. Inadequate night life entertainment facilities
6. Alienating child-birth environments

1. Enabling individual participation in large communities

1. Underparticipation
2. Participation
3. Nonparticipatory
4. Ineffectiveness
5. Effectiveness