A Debate From South Asia Participation, or Participatory Development, has become one ofthe orthodoxies of the mainstream discourse of development. Alongwith the promotion of market Forces and private sector in theEconomy and liberal Institutions in politics, Participation hasbecome a cornerstone of the development interventions promoted bydonors dependence on market forces and private Capital is expectedto generate economic growth. Liberal institutions would democratisesociety. Participation is not only expected to allow theinvolvement of wider sections of the Population in the developmentprocess, but also to contribute to the distribution of Fruits ofeconomic growth. Two decades ago, a group of researchers andpractitioners of development took a fresh Look at the notion ofparticipatory development at a workshop organised by Duryog Nivaranin November 1995. During Nivaran is a South Asian network trying topromote participatory approaches in situations of Natural disastersand internal conflicts. The papers presented at this workshop arebrought together in this volume. The starting point of Some of thepapers in analysing the theme of participation is development. Theylook at the Conceptual basis of the notion of participatorydevelopment as well as Concrete Experiences of its use in specificprojects. For others participation is essentially a conceptrelevant for Civil Society politics. Most of the contributions tothe volume have come from people who have been sympathetic to thenotion of participation in development. But almost all thecontributions point to the need to understand the limitations ofparticipation. These limitations arise both at conceptual Level andin what could be achieved through participation at project level.The editors hope that this volume will contribute to a debate onparticipatory development, and will Help us to assess its potentialin more realistic terms.