Public Participation and Innovations in Community Governance

’With British electoral turnouts falling, more people turning to forms of direct action, and talk of a crisis of democracy this book, charting developing patterns of participation among a wide range of polities, could hardly be more timely. Peter McLaverty provides an illuminating theoretical context in which to examine one of the key developments of contemporary politics.’ John Kingdom, Sheffield Hallam University, UK ’...the collection provides an interesting and occasionally provocative insight into the imperatives for and reactions to public participation initiatives...this is an interesting collection, which will be of relevance to politicians, professionals and community activists concerned with public participation and democracy.’ Local Government Studies '...this book is worth buying on the part of a university library, for its empirical material should be useful...the particular cases are rich and intriguing...' Public Administration

• Contents: Introduction, Peter McLaverty; Overcoming severe obstacles to public participation: indigenous people and impact assessment procedures in Australia, Ciaran O’Faircheallaigh; Public participation and integrated development planning in decentralized local government: a case study of democratic transition in South Africa, Cornie Groenewald and Antoinette Smith; Tlalpan neighbourhood committees: a true participatory option, Arturo Flores; Decentralization and citizen participation in Barcelona, Georgina Blakeley; Metropolitan governance and democracy: how to evaluate new tendencies, Daniel Kübler and Sonia Wälti; Decentralization: new forms of public participation or news forms of managerialism?, JohnDiamond; Rediscovering the citizen: new roles for politicians in interactive policy making, Erik-Hans Klijn and Joop F.M. Koopenjan; Neighbourhood councils - municipal instruments or grass-roots movement? some reflections on results from two Norwegian surveys, Nils Aarsæther, Torill Nyseth and Asbjørn Røiseland; Is public participation a good thing?, Peter McLaverty; Index.