Rethinking Participation Practice and Theory

Abstract

By the 1990s and continuing to the present, ambiguities of participation theory and practice have become increasingly apparent. Over the past three decades, international organizations slowly, and then more rapidly, accepted participation as part of their programming. However, the actual practice of substantive participation, as envisioned by many participation practitioners, was effectively marginalized. One of the reasons for this state of affairs is that there were relatively few experienced practitioners but many well-intentioned participation promoters. While these promoters wholeheartedly believed in participation from a philosophical perspective, they had little practice with the complexity of principle and process. But the real problem was even more profound than that. Looking around at organizational efforts to adopt effective participation practices, it became clear that we needed a better understanding of the interactions and dynamics of participation practice, as well as a better notion of the structure of participatory social theory.