Community Consultation Symposium Mapping Public Participation in Policy Choices.

Bishop, Patrick and Davis, Glyn (2002) Community Consultation Symposium Mapping Public Participation in Policy Choices. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 61 (1). pp. 14-29. ISSN 0313-6647

Abstract

In an era of democratic discontent, more and better participation in policy making has become a standard expectation. Yet it is rarely clear what counts as participation, and how the many practices loosely bundled under the label should be understood. This paper has a modest undergrowth-clearing objective: to examine assumptions behind competing typologies of participation, and to propose a classification framework less laden by idealist notions of democracy.