Societal participation in development activites : Algeria as an example

Abstract EN

The general aim of this paper is to investigate citizens' participation in development: Formulation of development aim, follow-up, monitoring and execution.

It is claimed in Algeria that development failure is mainly due to the fact that the country had pursued a socialist -oriented course that implied alienating citizens, and focussing decision-making processes in the hands of large bureaucratic apparatuses.

Presently, there exists a tendency on the part of local authorities to integrate Algerian citizens in the development processes.

To test this notion three hypotheses have been formulated.

They focus on an attempt to measure attitudes, valuation, inclinations and position regarding development as a "defacto affair”, and development as it should be.

A sample of (54) citizens and (08) prominent executives who have been indulged in development process have formed the random sample.Structured questionnaire and unstructured interviews open questions have been used to collect data.

Results show that Algerians are prone towards welcoming taking part in development of their localities.

Much hope is attached to interaction processes in the realm of development in which citizens have a say through their local neighbourhoods committees.

In other words, participatory development seems to be the important issue, not sustainable development which is being the focus of research approaches in many countries.