ABSTRACT
This chapter lists the emerging themes as the power of power, the webs of powerlessness and finally the power to empower. While participatory methodologies help to empower the ‘lowers’, critical also is the transformation of the behaviour and attitudes of the ‘uppers’ – the development professionals, bureaucrats or academics whose knowledge, behaviour and attitudes affect those with less power. ‘Uppers’ are trapped in their own power and privilege that radically affect how they see the world around them. While the power of the World Bank to extract from, yet not to reflect upon, such a large-scale participatory exercise was perhaps a sobering reminder to the participation enthusiasts, the analysis within Crying Out for Change: Voices of the Poor, one of the key volumes which Robert helped to co-author, marked another important shift.
