Stakeholder participation in economic development is generally considered to be a good thing. However, questions remain: Does stakeholder participation live up to the high expectations about it in the literature? How can success be measured? What are suitable criteria and indicators? How do the involved stakeholders themselves judge the outcomes of their involvement? What can be done to improve the performance of stakeholder participation? Which structural factors impede stakeholder participation? This study addresses questions such as these with respect to methodology, case studies, and policy implications.
Angela Oels is assistant professor at the Institute of Political Science, University of Hamburg, Germany.