Wasted potential: civic societies battle for participation in developing public policy

Following the discourse on civil society and its links to participation and policy develop-ment, this paper aims to assess the roles of civil society associations in influencing public policies in Oman. By contesting different theories in the context of the centralised rule au-thoritarian regime, the research shows that environmental associations have a degree of in-fluence in government. With a backdrop of waste management, the study highlights the regulatory and governance issues surrounding waste and civil society associations, arguing that despite the restrictions that allow associations to be controlled by the government, their role and functions are akin to those in democracies such as representatives of society, and contributing to alternative development methods, with deviations highlighted in auton-omy, policy participation and traditional advocacy practices. Thus, the paper contends with the question of co-optation vs cooperation. The paper describes general policy process methods in the absolute monarch ruled Sultanate and presents the challenges surrounding cohesive policy development in the environmental space, exposing the limitations of asso-ciations in influencing policy due to political structure and centralised governance system. More importantly, the research produces a distinction between regime and state goals as a core cause that impedes associations in gaining a voice toward policy development. Thus, concluding that while top-down rule prevails, associations input may be sought at the dis-cretion of the government, but will not gain a seat at the policy making table. However, their methods in mobilising bottom up change can be used to influence the regime who wield the authority to impact policies if they can align their cause with the regimes priorities and strategically present the issue of waste as tactical solution to the fundamental chal-lenges faced.