Partizipation als Leitvorstellung von Nicht-Regierungsorganisationen und die Kritik daran

Abstract

Abstract

Participation is defined as the deliberate effort to increase the control of underprivileged or maginalized social groups over the conditions of their life. Four different dimensions of participation are considered: participation as a form of codetermination of  target groups within development projects and programs, empowerment as a change in the relationship between target groups and the rest of society, participatory development as a reform of the state and devolution of power to the people at the local level and the role of NGOs in the quest for global regulatory regimes. The article then deals in detail only with the first two dimensions outlining the various practices associated with them and the reasons for failures, namely that participation and empowerment are only possible where social compromises between different social classes are also possible. In the final section current critiques of participatory practices and theories are summarised. The author concludes that radical critiques of participatory approaches overlook the fact that target groups often do no longer have the option of noncooperation and that the search for social compromises and a political culture where compromises become possible my be the only way out. Such reformism ties in with a development theory that stresses the importance of the evolution of social capital as a neccessary prerequisite for the sustainability of democratic rule and a socially stustainable market economy.