Structuring People: The Myth of Participation and the Organisation of Civil Society in Development

ISBN-13: 9783658359027 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 274 str.

Eva Marie Schindler

Spis treści

Introduction.- Theoretical Framework.- Methodological Framework.- Responding to the myth of participation through interpretation and decoupling.- Organising civil society by building membership.- Organising civil society by setting rules.- Discussion and Conclusion.

O autorze

Eva Marie Schindler completed her doctorate in political sciences at the University of Potsdam in 2021. She works for the public sector in the state of Berlin.

 

Blurb

Participation has become an orthodoxy in the field of development, an essential element of projects and programmes. This book analyses participation in development interventions as an institutionalised expectation – a rationalized myth – and examines how organisations on different levels of government process it. At least two different objectives of participation are appropriate and legitimate for international organisations in the field: the empowerment of local beneficiaries and the achievement of programme goals. Both integrate participatory forums into the organisational logic of development interventions. Local administrations react to the institutionalised expectation with means-ends decoupling, where participatory forums are implemented superficially but de facto remain marginalised in local administrative processes and activities. The book furthermore provides a thick description of the organisationality of participation in development interventions. Participatory forums are shown to be a form of partial organisation. They establish an order in the relationship between administrations and citizens through the introduction of rules and the creation of a defined membership. At the same time, this order is found to be fragile and subject to criticism and negotiation.

About the author:

Eva Marie Schindler completed her doctorate in political sciences at the University of Potsdam in 2021. She works for the public sector in the state of Berlin.