Reframing the situational theory of publics for participatory community development: shifting from stakeholder labels to development publics

Abstract This is a conceptual paper that examines the Situational Theory of Publics and its relevance to participatory community development approaches. It argues that community participants are development publics who reflect the characteristics of latent, aware, active, and non-publics in participatory community development processes. These categories of development publics exhibit different levels of engagement, awareness, and influence in government-led, donor-funded, self-help, and corporate-related community development issues and processes. The paper critiques the prevailing practice of describing community participants as stakeholders or similar labels, which perpetuate hierarchical, top-down development models that constrain genuine participation. Instead, it proposes reframing community participants as development publics, who emerge organically to negotiate power and influence in development participation. This reconceptualization promotes empowerment, collaboration, and accountability as essential conditions for meaningful participatory development. The paper offers actionable insights for development practitioners and scholars on applying the understanding of different types of development publics to address power disparities and enhance participation in community development processes.