Includes index. Bherer, L., Gauthier, M., & Simard, L. (Eds.). (2017). The professionalization of public participation. New York, NY: Routledge.

Introduction: The Public Participation Professional: An Invisible but Pivotal Actor in Participatory Processes -- Section I: Specific Context -- Innovating Public Participation: The Role of PPPs and Institutions in Italy -- The Participatory Democracy market in France: Between Standardization and Fragmentation -- Public Participation Professionals in the US: Confronting Challenges of Equity and Empowerment -- Who's the Client? The Sponsor, Citizens, or the Participatory Process?: Tensions in the Quebec (Canada) Public Participation Field -- Expertise, Professionalization, and Reflexibility in Mediating Public Participation: Perspective from STS and British Science and Democracy -- Section II: Actors and Networks -- Making It Official: Participation Professionals and the Challenge of Institutionalizing Deliberative Democracy -- Negotiating Professional Boundaries: Learning from Collaboration between Academics and Deliberation Practitioners -- Making Citizen Panels a "Universal Bestseller": Transnational Mobilization Practices of Public Participation Advocates -- Learning to Facilitate: Implications for Skill Development in the Public Participation Field -- Conclusion: Do the Institutionalization and Professionalization of Public Participation and the Enthusiasm for Participatory Processes Guarantee Greater Democratization?

The Professionalization of Public Participation is an edited collection of essays by leading and emerging scholars examining the emerging profession of public participation professionals. Public participation professionals are persons working in the public, private, or third sectors that are paid to design, implement, and/or facilitate participatory forums. The rapid growth and proliferation of participatory arrangements call for expertise in the organizing of public participation. The contributors analyze the professionalization of this practice in different countries (United States, France, Canada, Italy, and the United Kingdom) to see how their actions challenge the development of participatory arrangements. Designing such processes is a delicate activity, since it may affect not only the quality of the processes and their legitimacy, but also their capacity to influence decision-making.