Structuring People: The Myth of Participation and the Organisation of Civil Society in Development (Sozialwissenschaftliche Zugänge zu Afrika) - Softcover

Schindler, Eva Marie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3658359021 ISBN 13: 9783658359027

Publisher: Springer VS, 2021

Synopsis

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 areshown 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 this title

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.

 

From the Back Cover

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.

 

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer VS
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3658359021
• ISBN 13: 9783658359027
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 271