The Limits of Participation: Members and Leaders in Canada's Reform Party provides an historical account of the Canadian Reform Party, which shattered the established pattern of Canadian party politics in the late twentieth century. Faron Ellis provides an analysis of the party's development as it struggled to build an organization capable of bridging the policy demands of its members with the strategic plans of its leaders. The book examines the party from the perspective of its members by focusing on the opinion structure of activists who helped found Reform, build it into Canada's official opposition, and eventually decommission it in pursuit of power.

In the cities of the Greek East, during the late Hellenistic and Roman periods, female members of local ruling elites played a prominent and visible role in public life. In the large body of inscriptions documenting public life in the cities of Asia Minor (and to a lesser extent mainland Greece and the islands) they appear as civic benefactors, or undertaking civic offices and liturgies. In previous studies of this subject, attention has focussed almost entirely on the nature of women's 'political' prominence, which is usually interpreted as a result of increased female in-dependence and power in the legal and economic sphere. This study argues that notions of 'emancipation' or 'increased freedom and power' rest on a misinterpretation of women's social, legal and economic position, and are unhelpful in understanding the general developments that affected women's civic roles.

"In response to concerns that the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could have serious and costly effects, the Congress has considered creating a nationwide cap-and-trade program that would limit emissions of those gases below the levels projected under current law and would allow trading of rights, or allowances, to produce those emissions. In creating markets for allowance trading, policymakers would face important questions about how best to ensure that any instability in those markets did not raise the cost of reducing emissions or spill over to the rest of the U.S. economy (as happened with instability in mortgage markets during the recent financial crisis). Some observers have proposed excluding certain participants or transactions from allowance markets. This study examines the likely impact of prohibiting allowance trading by entities not directly covered by a cap-and-trade program and of banning the use of allowance derivatives. The report also discusses some alternative restrictions on participation and transactions in allowance markets that could impose lower costs on covered entities while reducing the risk of instability in those markets and in the overall economy."--Publisher's website.

This book shows how participatory government can lead to the unjust and illegitimate exercise of power. It addresses the gulf between the almost universally fashionable rhetoric of participation, promising empowerment and appropriate development. Looking at what actually happens when consultants and activists promote and practice participatory development, this book offers a sharp challenge to the advocates of participatory development. Some contributors look at particular examples of failed participatory practice; others present more conceptually-oriented analyses. Together they provide a new, rigorous, and provocative understanding of participatory development.

Including an introduction by Eyal Weizman, a conversation with Chantal Mouffe, an interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist, and post-scripts by Bassam El Baroni, Jeremy Beaudry, and Carson Chan. Welcome to Harmonistan! Over the last decade, the term "participation" has become increasingly overused. When everyone has been turned into a participant, the often uncritical, innocent, and romantic use of the term has become frightening. Supported by a repeatedly nostalgic veneer of worthiness, phony solidarity, and political correctness, participation has become the default of politicians withdrawing from responsibility. Similar to the notion of an independent politician dissociated from a specific party, this third part of Miessen's "Participation" trilogy encourages the role of what he calls the "crossbench practitioner," an "uninterested outsider" and "uncalled participator" who is not limited by existing protocols, and who enters the arena with nothing but creative intellect and the will to generate change.

What would you give to sit down with some of the most influential youth workers in the country? Not just the big names but those individuals who have proven time after time that they have a passion for reaching teens today that is pushing the limits of traditional youth ministry? In Pushing the Limits, veteran youth workers Mike Calhoun and Mel Walker have collected some of the best writing from youth pastors and leaders in churches big and small around the country who are doing what it takes to tap into the true potential of youth ministry. They give you the opportunity to find out what these youth leaders are doing that is making an impact and put it to work in your own ministry.

Public Participation and Better Environmental Decisions is about a specific ‘promise’ that participation holds for environmental decision-making. Many of the arguments for public participation in (inter)national environmental policy documents are functional, that is to say they see public participation as a means to an end. Sound solutions to environmental problems require participation beyond experts and political elites. Neglecting information from the public leads to legitimacy questions and potential conflicts. There is a discourse in the literature and in policy practice as to whether decision-making improves in quality as additional relevant information by the public is considered. The promise that public participation holds has to be weighed against the limitations of public participation in terms of costs and interest conflicts. The question that Public Participation and Better Environmental Decisions seeks to answer for academics, planners and civil servants in all environmental relevant policy fields is: What restricts and what enables information to hold the ‘promise’ that public participation lead to better environmental decision-making and better outcomes?

Yhteenveto. - Sammendrag.

The last two decades have ushered in what has become known as a participatory revolution, with consultants, advisors, and non-profits called into communities, classrooms, and corporations alike to listen to ordinary people. With exclusively bureaucratic approaches no longer en vogue, authorities now opt for “open” forums for engagement. In The Participation Paradox Luke Sinwell argues that amplifying the voices of the poor and dispossessed is often a quick fix incapable of delivering concrete and lasting change. The ideology of public consultation and grassroots democracy can be a smokescreen for a cost-effective means by which to implement top-down decisions. As participation has become mainstreamed by governments around the world, so have its radical roots become tamed by neoliberal forces that reinforce existing relationships of power. Drawing from oral testimonies and ethnographic research, Sinwell presents a case study of one of the poorest and most defiant Black informal settlements in Johannesburg, South Africa – Thembelihle, which consists of more than twenty thousand residents – highlighting the promises and pitfalls of participatory approaches to development. Providing a critical lens for understanding grassroots democracy, The Participation Paradox foregrounds alternatives capable of reclaiming participation’s emancipatory potential.