Assessing the impact of international development policies on the process of civil society participation in urban development in the countries of the south: The case of Syria

This paper seeks to explore the effect of international development policies on civil society participation promoted by the United Nations Development Programme on the urban development process in countries of the South. More specifically, the case of Syria is examined where an institutional analysis is conducted in order to investigate the question of whether development institutions in particular contexts in terms of both the mental models and the organisational forms of 'development', permit the space needed to apply this principle in practice. In this the paper argues the need to promote a proactive approach to enable civil society participation in the countries of the South rather than a normative internationally accepted approach developed in isolation from the given political and institutional urban development context.