Fairness and competence in citizen participation - Theoretical reflectionsfrom a case study

This article reports progress on developing a theory of public participatio n that may prove useful to administrative bodies. The authors review a theo ry of public participation based on Habermas's theory of communicative acti on and then reconsider the theory in light of a case study. participants of a forest policy-making process reported their perceptions of a good proces s, and the authors used grounded theory methodology to induce criteria of g ood process. By contrasting the case study results with the theoretical cri teria, insights are left into the strengths and shortcomings of the theory.