THE PARADOX OF LOCAL PARTICIPATION IN FORCED DISPLACEMENT AND RESETTLEMENT CAUSED BY THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (English version)

This article is an investigation of the theoretical and empirical concept of local participation, as it is used in the field of development-induced forced displacement and relocation (in short, DFDR). Local participation has repeatedly proved to be relevant with respect to the decrease of the negative impacts caused by DFDR on the people involved. Paradoxically, people who contribute to this process with their very culture and means of existence - including their land - often end up in chronic poverty, despite their participation in local decision-making. It appears that this concept, which was developed precisely in order to protect persons affected by poverty and supporting them in their attempt to overcome this poverty, contributes nevertheless to the destruction of their local culture, which shows signs of "inside cracking".Hence the necessity to answer two questions: is the concept of local participation deceitful or is it used erroneously? Do we need to reinterpret and rethink the way the project is conceived, planned and executed, taking into account its crucial elements with respect to risks and compensations? This approach seems to me to constitute a way to overcome blockages and avoid considering negotiations as an inflexible, univocal, hierarchical relation between two parties blocked into an