The devil's in the theory: a critical assessment of Robert Chambers' work on participatory development

This article attempts to shift the emphasis away form PRAÆs practice towards its theoretical underpinnings. The article argues that PRAÆs practice/empiricist orientation causes it to be insufficiently theorised and politicised. As a result, questions about inclusiveness, the role of PRA facilitators, and the personal behaviour of elites over shadow or sometimes ignore questions of legitimacy, justice, power and the politics of gender and difference. The article draws on arguments and debates involving Habermasian ædeliberative democracyÆ and post structuralist notions of power.