ABSTRACT
Some specialists have considered popular participation to be a key variable in explaining development administration's widespread deficiencies. Others have considered popular participation in program project design and implementation to be an Important, if not the most significant, variable determining ultimate success in attaining the hoped-for results. A number of factors affect popular participation in Africa. Historically the African colonial state was an intrusive, authoritarian conqueror with an administration that was essentially an alien element grafted onto, and disrupting forever, the patterns of traditional African society. Regimes that view challenging people and ideas as disruptive and threatening in the political sphere are ill -disposed to promote popular participation in the politically charged areas of planning and administration. Put another way, the prospect of popular participation in planning and administration is not encouraged by such a regime. None of market economy states surveyed has distinguished itself with an outstanding record in the promotion of popular participation and development management planning.
