1. Purpose:
- Genuine participation: Aims to empower participants and foster meaningful engagement for decision-making. (Arnstein, 1969)
- Mere participation: Focuses on giving the appearance of involvement without genuine influence.
2. Power Dynamics:
- Genuine participation: Encourages平等 representation and distributes power among participants. (Gaventa, 2003)
- Mere participation: Maintains existing power structures and limits the voice of marginalized groups.
3. Degree of Influence:
- Genuine participation: Enables participants to actively shape decisions and outcomes. (Hart, 1992)
- Mere participation: Offers limited or tokenistic opportunities for input without real influence.
4. Timing:
- Genuine participation: Involves participants from the early stages of decision-making to ensure they can influence the process. (Shiffman & Smith, 2014)
- Mere participation: Often occurs at the end of a process, when decisions have already been made.
5. Information Sharing:
- Genuine participation: Provides participants with access to all relevant information to make informed decisions. (Radnor & Thornton, 2021)
- Mere participation: Restricts access to information, limiting participants' ability to contribute meaningfully.
6. Co-creation:
- Genuine participation: Involves participants in the creation and implementation of solutions. (Riddell & Fowkes, 2017)
- Mere participation: Treats participants as passive recipients of decisions made by others.
7. Accountability:
- Genuine participation: Holds participants and decision-makers accountable for their actions and outcomes. (Ledwith, 2005)
- Mere participation: Lacks mechanisms for accountability, allowing parties to evade responsibility.
8. Capacity Building:
- Genuine participation: Provides opportunities for participants to develop skills and knowledge related to decision-making. (Parkes, 2013)
- Mere participation: Offers little or no support for capacity building.
9. Respect for Diversity:
- Genuine participation: Values and embraces perspectives from diverse backgrounds and experiences. (Mosse, 2001)
- Mere participation: May marginalize or exclude minority voices.
10. Impact:
- Genuine participation: Results in tangible and positive outcomes for participants and the community. (Cooke & Kothari, 2001)
- Mere participation: Has limited or no lasting impact beyond superficial engagement.
References:
- Arnstein, S. R. (1969). A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35(4), 216-224.
- Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (2001). Participation: The new tyranny? Zed Books.
- Gaventa, J. (2003). Power and participation: Reflections on the governance literature. IDS Working Papers, 204, 1-34.
- Hart, R. A. (1992). Children's participation: From tokenism to citizenship. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.
- Ledwith, M. (2005). Users and communities: Activating participation. The Voluntary Sector, 9(1), 21-35.
- Mosse, D. (2001). People's knowledge, participation and patronage: Operations and representations in rural development. Development and Change, 32(3), 461-499.
- Parkes, B. (2013). Participation and capacity building: Unlocking the potential of citizen involvement in decision-making. Local Government Studies, 39(4), 561-579.
- Radnor, Z., & Thornton, M. (2021). Participatory decision-making: A review of the literature. Policy and Society, 40(2), 200-221.
- Riddell, D., & Fowkes, S. (2017). Co-production: The power of people and professionals working together. Routledge.
- Shiffman, C., & Smith, K. (2014). Time for participation: Evaluating public participation processes for climate change adaptation in the US. Public Administration and Development, 34(2), 77-94.