The Professionalization of Public Participation

"As public authorities and other institutions increasingly employ public participation processes, we are witnessing the emergence of a new cadre of actors: public participation professionals (PPPs). PPPs play a significant role in negotiating the design, application, and impact of participatory processes and yet our knowledge of their activities is limited. This timely collection opens up this novel field of activity to systematic and critical reflection."—Graham Smith, Professor of Politics at the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), University of Westminster

"The last several decades have spawned an incredible resurgence of interest in public participation. As the field has grown, so too has the proliferation of public participation professionals—individuals working the public, nonprofit, or private sector who are paid to design, implement, and/or facilitate participatory forums. Anyone interested in public participation must read this book to understand how these actors are professionalizing the field, and how this professionalization is shaping (for better and for worse) the growth, development, and prospects of public participation in the 21st century."—Tina Nabatchi, Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

"The book makes a series of solid conclusions about why public participation is professionalizing at such speed, the effects of standardization, and the fragility of the profession. It also outlines future research opportunities. It makes a valuable contribution to the growing body of work in this area."—Helen E. Christensen, Journal of Public Deliberation

".. este trabajo tiene la virtud de relacionar los aspectos organizativos de los procesos de la democratización con las temáticas «clásicas» de las teorías de la organización, abriendo numerosos puntos de fuga interpretativos como los que ofrece la posibilidad de conocer la relación actual entre Estado, burocracia y democracia desde la práctica del PPP. Asimismo, ofrece ejemplos sobre cómo el estudio de las prácticas del agente PPP pueden ayudar a entender la calidad de los procesos de profundización, por lo que su contenido interesa tanto a académicas/os, como a facilitadoras/es interesadas/os en la democratización inclusiva."— Revista Española de Ciencia Política. Núm. 46. Marzo 2018, pp. 299-303

"The particularly useful contribution of the text is how the authors’ different contexts shape how they explain the emergence of the public participation professional and her role. This is especially stark in offering a unique critical perspective of public participation."— Brad A. M. Johnson, Journal of Public Affairs Education