Supporting participatory processes in territorial governance: The researcher's "risky" stance

Based on various testimonials from researchers involved in accompanying large-scale participatory and transformative projects, this chapter identifies and discusses some "risky stances" and frictions that researchers may encounter, as well as the strategies they develop to cope with them. The chapter shows that the researcher's stance, understood as his/her personal positioning in terms of theoretical and methodological choices and interpersonal interactions with other stakeholders, is a key element in the dynamics of the participatory process, even though it is very often neglected. The chapter brings valuable contributions for developing the reflexivity of researchers and project managers regarding their own role in transformative participatory processes. Axiological neutrality, or science that is free of value judgements, as theorised by Max Weber (1917), is a methodological stance adopted by the researcher who attempts to become aware of his own values in order to reduce in as much as possible the bias that his own value judgements might cause in the research at hand and in the interpretation of the results.