Public Participation as Public Debate: A Deliberative Turn in Natural Resource Management

ABSTRACT

This article examines some key similarities and differences between two leading perspectives on public participation: the natural resource management literature and deliberative democratic theory. We assert that contemporary deliberative democratic theory, as proposed by Habermas and others, provides important theoretical and applied insights that are often unexamined in the natural resource literature. Specifically, deliberative democratic theory maintains a focus on the value of public deliberation (dialogue and debate), attention to internal as well as external forms of exclusion, and constructive forms of distrust. The article demonstrates that a deliberative democratic perspective on public participation may serve to challenge some established traditions within the natural resource literature and lead to new ways of conducting and evaluating public participation.

Keywords:

• deliberative democratic theory
• evaluation research
• public participation
• public sphere