ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the meaning and implications of the shift towards participatory governance in the water realm and the problematics around participation as a hegemonic concept. There is imprecision about what participation means. The chapter proposes that there are several reasons for this imprecision and find it helpful to isolate 'four fatal flaws' (FFFs) related to the concept. First, participation is enmeshed with notions of decentralization and devolution, and as such there is a lack of precision about the term that tends to be lost in some of these broader discourses and shifts. Second, participation is too often supply driven, rather than demand driven. Third, vagueness about what participation means provides a space where participation can mean different things to different people, constituting a failure to articulate core principles in terms of what meaningful participation should look like. Finally, participation results in a thrust towards isomorphism where the focus is on form rather than substance.
