ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how international discourses and presents the depoliticization of public policies' decision-making and implementation. It tackles the rural participation transfer into national instruments, and sheds light on continuity of state activity in terms of framing the population and the territory. The chapter also deals with the conceptions and the consequences of participation for public administration agents. Agricultural Development Groups (ADGs) are in charge of both natural resource management and local development. The new legislation also includes international considerations, for instance natural resource conservation and international cooperation, which are linked to a participatory development discourse. The ADG implementation reveals strong conflicts between administrative territorial levels and between services. Implementing the participatory approach in ADG promotion or international development programmes includes appealing to consulting firms. Finally, the chapter shows that participatory development management reconfigures public administration activities.
