Participation stories: the problem of what happens when people don't do what we want them to

This collection of short, accessible essays proposes a new theoretical agenda for participatory democracy. Calls for increased participation are becoming ubiquitous throughout social life, from politics to community engagement, and from the arts to education. These demands raise important problems and trouble many dominant assumptions about the nature of democratic practice in the 21st century. One assumption, however, remains largely unquestioned: that authentic democratic participation is solely a problem of transferring power to marginalized groups. The researchers, activists and practitioners who contribute to this provocative book, by contrast, make the case for a parallel project: the democratization of authority. The craft of democracy - the struggle for common life - requires inventing new ways of creating authority and objectivity amongst silenced voices, truths and experiences.