Participatory Citizenship: Identity, Exclusion, Inclusion

Based on the experiences of these groups in their everyday relationships with the state and with society at large, the contributors to this volume detail and explore the possibilities and the problematics of their inclusion in attempting a change in existing relations. They discuss 'participatory citizenship' as a way of altering the existing relationship between the state and its vulnerable citizenry; rescuing citizenship from its universal legal status to include the differential positioning of subjugated groups; and conceptualize participation not merely as a voting /electoral mechanism but as one where all citizens have a legitimate and equitable stake in the processes of development and governance.