ARNSTEINS LADDER OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

A CRITICAL DISCUSSION
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1. Introduction
Participation emerged has buzzword in the spectrum of development from 1960s.
The concept developed as wider role in development when the capacity of state lead
development initiatives questioned. In most of the development initiatives taken place in
developing nation and by the international agencies including UN, UNRSID, UNICEF, have
made contribution to the wider acceptance of the concept. The term has various connotations.
Based on the level of participation or the intensity of the peoples participation the term has
various typologies. One of the most common believe with regard to the participation (may be
false believe) is that the notion of I mange and you participate. Especially this notion is
common in most of the development project implemented by the agencies, they believe that
they will develop the project and while implementing the project the notion of participation is
ensured. But the term has a wider and deep explanation. It discussing the care and support
forwarded by a community towards their development and sustainably of the development by
their own initiatives .so participation is an answer to two questions. The first one is for whose
benefit a development initiatives is developed and the next one is with what means the
initiatives is realised. In this context Saxsena (p31) discussing participation include the
notion of contributions ,influencing, sharing, or redistributing power and of control
,resources ,benefits ,knowledge and skills to be gained through beneficiary involvement in
decision making.Saxsena further discussing it has voluntary process and in the process
people ,including the disadvantaged (income ,gender ,education, caste or education)influence
or control the decision that affect them. Many theories have been developed on
participation, in this paper the Arnsteins concept of ladder of citizen participation was
critically discussed under three sessions namely meaning of participation, ladder of citizen
participation and criticism.
2.MEANING OF PARTICIPATION.
Citizen Participation is corner stone in democracy. It can be discussed as the
categorical term for citizens power. Participation, in the development context, is a process
through which all members of a community or organization are involved in and have
influence on decisions related to development activities that will affect them. The process of

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involving members of a society either as individuals or groups in planning and
implementation of activities affecting their lives has been given different connotations in the
literature ; among them participatory development (Chambers 1992; Nelson and Wright
1995) participatory governance (Hickey and Mohan 2004) , democratic local governance
(Blair 2000) or even community development (Dolsak and Ostrom 2003) . All these refer to
participation of local people in one way or the other in development programme. According
to Sherry Arnstein (1969:216), participation is a deliberate process that enables, to use her
words, the not have citizens presently excluded from the political and economic process to
be included in the future. Here emphasis is given to the redistribution of power and enabling
environment which facilitates citizens participation in political and economic process in a
deliberative manner.

3. ARNSTEINS LADDER OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

Sherry R. Arnstein, work "A Ladder of Citizen Participation" was published in July
1969 in the Journal of the American Institute of Planners. In this work she made attempt to
discuss the typology of citizens participation from her experiences with federal social
programs including urban renewal, anti-poverty, and Model Cities. she developed a
typology of citizen participation arranged as rungs on a ladder, with each rung corresponding
to the amount of citizen control within the process of determining a program or policy
(GERSHMAN 2013).In this typology she made attempts to discuss participation as a tool
applied among people to induce significant social reform which enables them to share in the
benefits of the affluent society (p. 216). Arnstein (1969) highlights the fundamental point that
participation without redistribution of power is an empty and frustrating process for the
powerless (p. 216).she discussing the level of people participation as eight rungs of a ladder.

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3.1Manipulation, Therappy
She is discussing these rungs as clear index of non participation. It involves
influencing the public and gaining support through the use of propaganda. In her own words
People are placed on rubberstamp advisory committees or advisory boards for the express
purpose of educating them or engineering their support (p. 218). These bodies typically
have no legitimate function or power (Arnstein, 1969, p. 218). the second rung of the ladder,
therapy assumes that the public is incapable of decisionmaking and those in power subject
citizens to paternalistic education exercises, or clinical group therapy, as a form of
enlightenment (Brooks & Harris, 2008).
3.2 Informing, consultation, Placation
Here she discussing the next three rungs of the ladder and calls the phase as
tokenism. The second stage begins with the third rung of the ladder, informing. At this
rung, information flows from the public officials to the citizens with no channel provided for
feedback and no power for negotiation (Arnstein, 1969, p. 219). The most frequent tools
used for participation and communication during the process of informing include news
media, pamphlets, posters, responses to inquiry, and meetings which discourage questioning
and provide superficial and irrelevant information (Arnstein, 1969, p. 219). . Consultation,
the fourth rung on the ladder, provides for a two-way flow of information through meetings,
hearings, and surveys. However, the public input gathered throughout this process is rarely
taken into account. Arnstein (1969) categorizes this rung in the following way: What
citizens achieve in all this activity is that they have participated in participation. And what
the powerholders achieve is the evidence that they have gone through the required motions of
involving those people (p. 219). The final level of tokenism is placation, where citizens
begin to gain influence through boards or committees, but they can still be outnumbered or
overruled, particularly when their opinions are unfavourable from the perspective of
professional planners (Brooks & Harris, 2008, p. 141).
3.3. Prtenership, Delegated Power, Citizens Control
The third stage of Arnsteins ladder i.e.: citizen power begins with the sixth rung,
partnership. At this rung, [Citizens and power holders] agree to share planning and decision-
making responsibilities through such structures as joint policy boards, planning committees
and mechanisms for resolving impasses. (Arnstein, 1969, p. 221). Arnstein discusses some
characteristics that effectively facilitate partnership, such as organized citizen leaders and
groups within the community and financial resources for technicians. As the seventh rung on
the ladder, delegated power exists when citizens can assure accountability of a program by

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achieving dominant decision-making authority over the plan or program (Arnstein, 1969, p.
222). Citizen control is the highest rung on Arnsteins ladder.
CRITICISMS OF ARNSTEINS LADDER OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

The appeal of Arnsteins Ladder of Citizen Participation lies in its simplicity and
ability to reveal, in pictorial form, the power agendas implicit in many institutionalized
narratives and the differences in the forms and strategies of participation that are desired or
result (Collins & Ison, 2006, p. 2). However, there are criticisms of Arnsteins Ladder of
Citizen Participation. According to Collins and Ison (2006), Arnsteins ladder, with its focus
on power, is insufficient for making sense of participation at a conceptual or practice level
(p. 2). Academics cite various limitations for Arnsteins Ladder of Citizen Participation, such
as the assumption that participation is hierarchical in nature with citizen control held up as
the goal of participation an assumption that does not always align with participants own
reasons for engaging in decision-making processes (Collins & Ison, 2006, p. 2).
Additionally, researchers emphasize the limitation that Arnstein herself cites, that each
problem or decision is unique and can require different levels or types of participation that
are not reflected in the broadness of the ladder. Collins and Ison (2006) have the following
two critiques of Arnsteins Ladder of Citizen Participation: First, at a conceptual level,
Arnsteins notion of participation is both devoid of context and, critically, has no means of
making sense of the context in which the ladder is used. Second, in situations when the nature
of the issue is highly contested or undefined, Arnsteins ladder provides few insights into
how participation might be progressed as a collective process between all of the stakeholders
involved (p. 5).
Limitations acknowledged by Arnstein
Citizen power is not distributed as neatly as the divisions used suggest;
Some significant road blocks are omitted, such as the racism, paternalism and
resistance of some power holders and the ignorance and disorganization of many low-
income communities; and
Instead of eight rungs, the real world of people and programs might require as many
as 150 to cover the range of actual citizen involvement levels.
The diagram addresses urban, black ghettos rather than a range of urban, suburban
and rural situations; and

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 The citizen participation-rungs on a ladder analogy suggest no logical progression
from one level to another, one building to another.
4. CONCLUSION
Representative governments began to develop around 600 BCE (Jones & Platt,
1994).But citizenship was not usually extended to all citizens, such as women, but these
models of governance have inspired political thinkers for centuries and inspired our modern
concept of democracy (Jones & Platt, 1994). The 18th and 19th centuries were an important
time for the development of democratic institutions. Transparency International is a global
coalition fighting corruption throughout the world, emphasizing open government and
accountability. Specifically, this movement works with partners in government, business and
civil society to put effective measures in place to tackle corruption in government and public
administration. Participation is wide concept which revolves and develops with various level
of citizen participation deliberation.
References:
1. Andrea Cornwall The Participation Reader(ed) Zed Books London
2. Sharon Penderis, Theorizing Participation: From Tyranny to Emancipation, The Journal Of
African & Asian Local Government Studies
3. Desmond M. Connor A New Ladder of Citizen Participation, National Civic Review
(Vol.77 No.3) 1988
4. Shayna Debra Gershman, An Evaluation Of Public Participation Techniques Using
Arnsteins Ladder: The Portland Plan (Thesis 2013)
5. Sherry A Arnstein, A Ladder of Citizen Participation,
6. Collins, Kevin and Ison, Raymond, Dare We Jump Off Arnsteins Ladder? Social
Learning as a New Policy Paradigm (In: Proceedings of PATH (Participatory Approaches In
Science & Technology) Conference, 4-7 June 2006, Edinburgh)
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