Laurence Bherer - The Professionalization of Public Participation

The Professionalization of Public Participation is an edited collection of essays by leading and emerging scholars examining the emerging profession of public participation professionals.

Public participation professionals are persons working in the public, private, or third sectors that are paid to design, implement, and/or facilitate participatory forums. The rapid growth and proliferation of participatory arrangements call for expertise in the organizing of public participation. The contributors analyze the professionalization of this practice in different countries (United States, France, Canada, Italy, and the United Kingdom) to see how their actions challenge the development of participatory arrangements. Designing such processes is a delicate activity, since it may affect not only the quality of the processes and their legitimacy, but also their capacity to influence decision-making.

Laurence Bherer is Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy in the Political Science Department at the Universit de Montral. Her research focuses on participatory democracy, local democracy, and urban politics in Canada and Europe.

Mario Gauthier is Full Professor of Urban Studies in the Social Sciences Department at the Universit du Qubec en Outaouais. His research work concerns urban and regional planning, environmental impact assessment, and sustainable development.

Louis Simard is Associate Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. His research work focuses on public participation, instruments of public action, social acceptability, and organizational learning in the environmental and energy sectors.

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 professionalsindividuals 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

Edited by Laurence Bherer, Mario Gauthier, and Louis Simard

First published 2017
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The right of Laurence Bherer, Mario Gauthier, and Louis Simard to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bherer, Laurence, editor. | Gauthier, Mario, 1965 editor. | Simard, Louis, editor.

Title: The professionalization of public participation / edited by Laurence Bherer, Mario Gauthier, and Louis Simard.

Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016044339 | ISBN 9781138638112 (hbk) | ISBN 9781138638129 (pbk) | ISBN 9781315637983 (ebk)

Subjects: LCSH: Political participationCase studies. | Political activistsCase studies.

Classification: LCC JF799 .P755 2017 | DDC 323/.042dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044339

ISBN: 978-1-138-63811-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-63812-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-63798-3 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

The starting point for this book was a symposium entitled Developing expertise in the design of participatory tools: professionalization and diversification of the public participation field, held in the context of the Annual World Congress of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) on July 1924, 2014, in Montreal. Some of the papers presented at the symposium were subsequently rewritten to become chapters for this book. The symposium was organized in partnership with the Institut du Nouveau Monde (INM), a Canadian NGO (non-governmental organization) specializing in citizenship education and public debate. We would like to thank Michel Vennes, director general and founder of the INM, and especially Malorie Flon, strategic advisor at INM, for her involvement in organizing the symposium. was originally published as Learning to facilitate deliberation: practicing the art of hosting, Critical Policy Studies, 8(3): 300322 (copyright Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham, reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd, on behalf of Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham).

INM has published a summary of the round table discussions at this event, and of a survey of the participants involved, entitled Professionalization of the Public Participation Field: Actors, Challenges, Opportunities (also available in French). Available at https://inm.qc.ca/produit/professionnalisation-de-la-participation-publique-acteurs-defis-possibilites/.

Laurence Bherer, Mario Gauthier, and Louis Simard