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These days participation has become a prominent buzz word, deliberately applied to various forms of involvement in politics, peace-building and development cooperation. Some people understand participation as a panacea to all kinds of ills – from dwindling voter turnout in Western democracies to top-down peace-building projects and ineffective community development programmes. Others, however, are more cautious about the ‘bliss’ of participatory approaches. Various authors have pointed out the undemocratic and disempowering effects of current participatory approaches Overall, the somewhat enthusiastic endorsement of participation has given way to a more balanced view characterised by lively and multi-faceted debates about the benefits and limitations of participation.
In this seminar, we are concerned with participation both from a normative and a practitioner’s perspective. The emphasis will be on participation in the context of social transformation and conflict resolution. What does participation actually mean? Is ‘genuine’ participation possible at all? How can participation enhance social and conflict transformation? From a normative point of view, questions of representation, power, and access challenge the very notion of genuine participation. Practitioners are confronted with context-specific factors including customs, resource availability and group dynamics. We will look at definitions of, and discourses around, participation. With Galtung’s notion of positive peace as a starting point we will be examining different forms of deliberation and stakeholder involvement.
Issues covered include, among others, the evolution of participatory approaches, deliberative designs, and some first-hand experience of participatory facilitation. At the end of the course, students will have become familiar with various concepts of social transformation, and the role of participation therein.
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