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Participation as an Essential Element of an Active Civil Society
and insert their personal or group efforts and interests in
an orderly manner, for the common good.”
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Freedom is fundamental to participation. Participation that is
managed, guided, or tied to the interests of government or any
determined political group is no longer participation but rather an
orchestrated partisan manifestation foreign to the citizenry. Creative
freedom allows for the authenticity and success of citizen participation
and respects the dignity of people and communities in addition to
prompting the development of people. False participatory processes
transform conscious people into masses that are creatively sterile. They
transform citizens into fanatical militants of political causes that are
exclusive in nature.
Participation is not possible if a population is not organized. Only
through formal organizational processes, including the specialization
of tasks and activities, is it possible for a plurality of people with a
multiplicity of interests and inherent diversities to rally around a
common purpose without distorting the content and profound desires
of a population.
One must understand too, the reach of citizen participation. For
example, an organized community may be capable of administrating a
sports facility, but not able to direct the processes of a country’s armed
defense. On the premise of citizen participation, a state cannot excuse
itself from fulfilling determined functions that only its structure can
conduct. Likewise, participatory processes should not be used to hinder
or delay government decision-making. This means, on the one hand,
that participation is not a subterfuge to frustrate decision-making. It
also means that the institutions of a state, which are specialized in the
administration of the common good, maintain authority to make and
execute decisions required for the common good and, in some cases, act
under exclusive responsibility in matters that are of a reserved nature
(for example, national security).
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