People, jobs, rights and power: the role of participation in combating social exclusion in Europe

Interest is being revived in participation as a means of tackling social exclusion. There are differing interpretations of both participation and social exclusion, which leave it unclear as to how one is supposed to combat the other. This article reports some findings from a project that looked at existing participation efforts in four European countries, and compares observations with previous insights. We categorize the aims of these efforts, relate these aims to policy developments at European and local level and link them to differing explanations of social exclusion. We argue that greater clarity is necessary on the aims of participation and on how it is supposed to tackle social exclusion if conflicts that have hindered previous programmes are to be overcome.