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"Adapting Public Consultation to Different Political Cultures". This paper began with the central question: How must public consultation be adapted to fit the very different philosophies and assumptions, which underlie different political cultures? The paper sought to identify the assumptions underlying public consultation and some suggestions and recommendations for the practice of public consultation under different flags. While the field of public consultation, also known as public participation and public involvement, has developed in North America since the 1930s, it is now being used around the globe by the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and similar organizations. In some cases, public consultation is being introduced into countries where democracy is a relatively recent form of governance with no tradition of either the democratic process or of classic liberalism e.g. civil rights. In other cases, public consultation is being required in countries, which are governed by dictatorships.
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