Illuminating the evolution of community participation: an Inter-disciplinary international review

社区参与是发达民主国家政府持续关注的重点，当前联合政府的“大社会”旗舰政策方案就是明证。从表象上看，政府将“大社会”解释并描绘成一个“三角”式的问题，这些问题指向社区，而隐含的政策议程则是：“你们能为自己做些什么？”（社区赋权）；“你们能为彼此做些什么？””(慈善事业);“国家能为你做些什么？”（公共部门改革）。这些政策线索中的每一条都是从可识别的历史和地理背景中翻译出来的，或者在这里被称为“照亮者”。社区赋权政策在很大程度上借鉴了与索尔·阿林斯基在芝加哥的工作相关的社区组织模式。慈善起源于19世纪英国的“经典”慈善。公共部门改革议程受到财政紧缩的推动，但也与上世纪80年代英国与撒切尔主义相关的财政紧缩和反国家主义时期有着明显的相似之处。该评论将“大社会”理解为政策翻译的一个例子（Freeman 2009）。通过反思“在翻译中丢失了什么”，该评论确定了争论和挑战的空间。

Community participation is an ongoing pre-occupation of governments in developed democracies as evidenced in the 'Big Society' flagship policy programme of the current Coalition government. In presentational terms, the government has explained and portrayed the Big Society as a 'triangle' of questions directed towards communities with implied policy agendas set in response: 'what can you do for yourselves?' (community empowerment); 'what can you do for each other?' (philanthropy); 'what can the state do for you?' (public sector reform). Each of these policy strands has been translated from discernible historical and geographical settings or what are called here 'illuminators'. Community empowerment policies draw strongly on the community organising model associated with Saul Alinsky's work in Chicago. Philanthropy stems from the British 'classic' philanthropy in the 19th century. The public sector reform agenda is driven by the fiscal restraint but also has clear parallels with the period of fiscal retrenchment and anti-statism associated with Thatcherism in the UK in the 1980s. The review understands the 'Big Society' as an example of policy translation (Freeman 2009). Through reflecting on what is 'lost in translation', the review identifies spaces for contestation and challenge.