[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-600558-105":59,"doc-detail-600558-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-power-of-participation-concluding-remarks","The Power of Participation - Concluding Remarks","","An author reflects on five contributions in the issue by examining how power dimensions shape participatory development. The discussion links participation’s appeal to the risk that “participation as empowerment” can become “participation as power,” enabling elite or institutional hegemony. The analysis focuses on how consensus-making is structured, how “micro power” mechanisms distort deliberation, and how managerialism reframes participation as technocratic performance rather than genuine agency.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-power-of-participation-concluding-remarks/600558/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-power-of-participation-concluding-remarks/600558.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"OmBimo","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What two meanings does the document assign to “the power of participation”?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It describes participation’s popularity as the first sense, and warns that it can slide into participation as a means of exercising power in order to maintain elite or institutional dominance as the second sense.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does power influence consensus-making in participatory development?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Power affects who sets discussion rules and for what purpose, and it also shapes deliberation through “micro power” processes such as rhetorical manipulation, technical language, misrepresentation of evidence, and intimidation.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does the document mean by “managerialism” in participatory development?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Managerialism refers to participatory development being constrained by technocratic and institutional demands, where participation is molded to meet bureaucratic goals, deadlines, and reporting needs rather than empowering communities as subjects.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},600558,1792171230,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},962090893581,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","COMMENTARY  \nConcluding Remarks: The Power of Participation  \nIlan Kapoor  \nFaculty of Environmental Studies  \nYork University, Canada  \nAbstract  \nI reflect on the preceding five contributions in this issue by focusing on the power dimensions of participation. I emphasize how power underlies and frames not only the activities and management of participatory development, but also our own personal/institutional involvement as development researchers and workers. I end with some thoughts on where these inescapable power dynamics leave our engagement with participatory development.  \nIntroduction  \n\"The power of participation\" has two senses to it. The first points to the popularity of, and attraction to, the notion of participation. Thus, in development circles these days, it would be difficult to find many organizations that are not at least trying to integrate\"beneficiary participation\" into policy or programming. Even the World Bank, once the object of severe criticism regarding its relative neglect of civil society, has taken participatory development up with enthusiasm. But such appeal should perhaps give us pause. For, \"participation as empowerment\" can easily slide into \"participation as power.\" Here, it can be deployed to wield authority, helping to maintain and further elite or institutional hegemony. This is the second meaning of \"the power of participation,\" and I would like, in what follows, to tease out several of its dimensions. I will be greatly helped, in this endeavor, by the preceding analyses by Adely, Burde, Clemons & Vogt, Grant Lewis & Naidoo, and Makuwira.  \nConsensus-Making  \nPower is integral to consensus-making. In my article (2002), I underline that community consensus is an insufficient indicator of participation; much depends on how that consensus is achieved. Who institutes the rules of discussion and consensus-making? For what purpose? And what is the quality of the consensus reached? These are key questions for scrutinizing the power dynamics of participatory development. Thus, simply consulting people, adding up individual votes, or as Grant Lewis & Naidoo mention in the case of school governance in South Africa, fastidiously following election rules without regard for the establishment or quality of deliberation among participants, impoverishes the meaning and value of participatory decision making.  \nEven with appropriate discussion rules and lively debate, there can be \"micro power\"processes at play. Rhetorical devices - sensationalist arguments, technical or esoteric language, misrepresentation of evidence, loud or aggressive speech - can all unduly sway opinion or silence and intimidate participants. While often subtle, these devices may also be intentional, as when government or NGO officials bring in scientific  \n© 2004 Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Current Issues in Comparative Education, Vol.6 (2) 125  \nIlan Kapoor  \n\"experts\" to speak to (read: persuade) community members about, say, the viability of a hydroelectric dam.  \nConsequently, reaching consensus is compromised when the quality of deliberation is itself compromised by power inequalities. But it is important not to take for granted the very condition of having to achieve a consensus. The concern here is not just that consensus-making may be coerced, but also that the consensus must be single. As the case studies by Adely, Burde, Clemons & Vogt, and Grant Lewis & Naidoo all reveal, the demand for a single policy direction or decision risks stifling social plurality. It sets up an all-or-nothing equation in which some community members win and others--usually minorities or the disadvantaged--lose. It assumes a monolithic community, prescribing one formula for all women, classes or racialized/ethnicized groups, irrespective of differences, inequalities and tensions between and among these groups. In post-conflict situations, Burde shows how this problem may be ev","cbCaij31GXwwizkT","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaij31GXwwizkT","pdf",132106,"English","# Concluding Remarks: The Power of Participation\n## Abstract\n## Introduction\n## Consensus-Making\n## Managerialism","[{\"question\":\"What two meanings does the document assign to “the power of participation”?\",\"answer\":\"It describes participation’s popularity as the first sense, and warns that it can slide into participation as a means of exercising power in order to maintain elite or institutional dominance as the second sense.\"},{\"question\":\"How does power influence consensus-making in participatory development?\",\"answer\":\"Power affects who sets discussion rules and for what purpose, and it also shapes deliberation through “micro power” processes such as rhetorical manipulation, technical language, misrepresentation of evidence, and intimidation.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the document mean by “managerialism” in participatory development?\",\"answer\":\"Managerialism refers to participatory development being constrained by technocratic and institutional demands, where participation is molded to meet bureaucratic goals, deadlines, and reporting needs rather than empowering communities as subjects.\"}]","The Power of Participation - Concluding Remarks | PDF",1792090931,13]