• Empowerment of the poor is one ingredient in effective poverty reduction. • A demand-driven participatory approach enhances effectiveness and efficiency. • Accountability is the central lever for participatory governance. • Capacity building is necessary for making participatory governance a reality. In its research activities, the Development Centre aims to identify and analyse problems whos...

This chapter gives an exploratory overview of the emergence and growth of new media in Uganda and how the alternative nature of new media is scaffolding the notion of citizenship and deliberative democracy. The chapter also suggests that despite the new found vigour, it is too early to say whether the Ugandan new media landscape have so far become a true alternative or complementary participato...

Mediation does not only mean a specific procedure or protocol but the related attitude, mindset as well. This perspective gives opportunity to demonstrate the problem in a different way than previously. In the present study the participatory theory of communication (PTC) appears as a framework which makes the communication of participants of the mediation interpretable and transparent.

One of the most important goals of public participatory geographic information systems (PP GIS) is to improve citizen’s participation in planning processes. Does this really happen? Unfortunately, very little empirical research exists which would testify or falsify this hypothesis. In the process of trying to involve the citizens in the planning processes, we observe the effect of rational igno...

This chapter examines the current landscape of participatory budgets in Germany, which currently includes just under 100 local authorities that are actively involved in participatory budgeting (PB). Based on the history of PB in Germany, it shows how German participatory budgets typically pursue the objective of making local government more responsive, which is the reason why most participatory...

____________________________________________________________________ ii Chapter 1_____________________________________________________________________1 1. Towards Improving Representative Democracy in Canada _____________________________ 1 1.1. Defining Democracy: A “Dynamic Balance” ______________________________________________1 1.2. The Contemporary Model: Representative Democracy __________...

Many papers in the recent literature on participatory approaches emphasize the need to take better account of the complexity of the social contexts in which they are conducted. Without attention to power asymmetries, there is a risk that the most powerful stakeholders will have greater influence on the outcomes of the participatory process than marginalized stakeholders. However, very few autho...

Managing water for sustainable use and economic development is both a technical and a governance challenge in which knowledge production and sharing play a central role. This article evaluates and compares the role of participatory governance and scientific information in decision-making in four basins in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, and the United States. Water management institutions in each of ...