6 
Most participatory measures pose little challenge to the 
existing decision-making authority. A third set of procedures 
is intended to provide more substantial and collaborative forms 
of public participation. 
Collaborative Participation 
In the formal participatory procedures discussed above, 
government agencies still have the right and the power to dis- 
regard citizen concerns. What distinguish the more collabora- 
tive kinds of participation is the inclusion of public repre- 
sentatives, not simply as informants, but as partners with some 
power to assure that agencies act on the basis of their prefer- 
ences. Collaborative procedures include the chance for parti- 
cipants to evaluate nformation and to negotiate the solution 
of conflicting prior ies . Perhaps the most striking feature 
of such procedures, Aiever, is their rarity. 
Advisory board are the most frequent form of collabora- 
tion. In 1975, fort -five government agencies had 1,267 advi- 
sory boards with a total of 22,256 members. A survey of federal 
agency advisory boards found that nearly 50% of the board mem- 
bers were industry representatives, while consumer and environ- 
mental groups comprised less than 7%.® Agencies justified this 
by claiming that citizens' groups were disinterested, lacking 
in technical qualifications, or simply inappropriate. The citi- 
zens' groups, however, felt that agencies avoid outside pressure 
by controlling the memberships on boards. Nonetheless, citizen 
representation on such boards is a crucial step towards a more 
open participatory procedure. While agencies are often not for- 
mally obliged to use the recommendations of advisory boards, 
arbitrary action is rare. For board membership is often repre- 
sentative of powerful groups, whose support may be necessary 
for effective policy implementation. 
[A- 115] 
