Rethinking Popular Representation

Transcription

1 Rethinking Popular Representation

2 Palgrave Studies in Governance, Security, and Development Series Editor: Dietrich Jung of the Danish Institute for International Studies This series contributes to the critical analysis of international affairs, linking the theoretical and the empirical, especially through comparative works. The focus is on three processes in international relations: governance involving both formal and informal institutions; security, meaning that of key actors in international society, with a focus on the distinctions and differences among security of and for individuals, groups, and states; and development, meaning the improvement of both political and economic conditions for individuals and groups. The links among the three will be a focus, which is pertinent given the interactions among them and among the levels of influence (from individual to global society). Also in the series: Aid Impact and Poverty Reduction Edited by Steen Folke and Henrik Nielson Democratization and Development: New Political Strategies for the Middle East Edited by Dietrich Jung Fragile States and Insecure People?: Violence, Security, and Statehood in the Twenty-First Century Edited by Louise Andersen, Bjørn Møller, and Finn Stepputat State Recognition and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: A New Dawn for Traditional Authorities? Edited by Lars Buur and Helene Maria Kyed Religion, Politics, and Turkey s EU Accession Edited by Dietrich Jung and Catharina Raudvere Sovereignty Games: Instrumentalizing State Sovereignty in Europe and Beyond Edited by Rebecca Adler-Nissen and Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen Rethinking Popular Representation Edited by Olle Törnquist, Neil Webster, and Kristian Stokke

3 Rethinking Popular Representation Edited by Olle Törnquist, Neil Webster, and Kristian Stokke

4 RETHINKING POPULAR REPRESENTATION Copyright Olle Törnquist, Neil Webster, and Kristian Stokke, Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rethinking popular representation / edited by Olle Törnquist, Neil Webster, and Kristian Stokke. p. cm. ISBN (alk. paper) 1. Representative government and representation Developing countries. 2. Democratization Developing countries. 3. Developing countries Politics and government. I. Törnquist, Olle. II. Webster, Neil. III. Stokke, Kristian, 1961 JF60.R dc A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December

5 Contents List of Illustrations Preface Notes on the Contributors vii ix xi 1 Introduction: The Problem Is Representation! Towards an Analytical Framework 1 Olle Törnquist 2 What Is the Relationship Between Participation and Representation? 25 Neera Chandhoke 3 The Paradox of Civil Society Representation: Constructing New Forms of Democratic Legitimacy in Brazil 39 Peter P. Houtzager and Adrian Gurza Lavalle 4 Symbolic Representation as Political Practice 59 Kristian Stokke and Elin Selboe 5 School Provision, the Capacity to Aspire, and the State of Popular Representation in West Bengal 79 Neil Webster 6 The Politics of Gradualismo: Popular Participation and Decentralised Governance in Mozambique 99 Lars Buur 7 Representation by Design? Variations on Participatory Reforms in Brazilian Municípios 119 Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Patrick Heller 8 Patronage Democracy in Provincial Indonesia 141 Gerry van Klinken

6 vi CONTENTS 9 Compromised Democracy: Observations on Popular Democratic Representation from Urban India 161 John Harriss 10 Trade Unions and Popular Representation: Nigeria and South Africa Compared 179 Björn Beckman 11 Popular Politics of Representation: New Lessons from the Pioneering Projects in Indonesia, Kerala, and the Philippines 197 Olle Törnquist, P. K. Michael Tharakan (with Jos Chathukulam), and Nathan Quimpo 12 From Research to Practice: Towards the Democratic Institutionalisation of Nodes for Improved Representation 223 Neil Webster, Kristian Stokke, and Olle Törnquist References 235 Index 257

7 Illustrations Figures 1.1 The challenges of democratic popular control of public affairs Integrated framework for the study of popular democratic representation Assumed representation by type of civil organisation Legitimacy claims for assumed representation, by type of civil organisations Scaling up issues, alliances and spatial links by improved representation, to counter the distressed relations between civil society associations, popular movements and organised politics 198 Tables 3.1 Distribution of types of civil organisations in the São Paulo study, The Left Front electoral performance in state assembly elections West Bengal Panchayat election results in 2003 and Primary school provision Matched pairs Participatory governance, Synthesis of participatory governance, Share of problem-solving efforts by channel 163

8 This page intentionally left blank

9 Preface T his collection of essays originates in an international network of scholars with shared interests in democratisation in the Global South. The theme of Rethinking Popular Representation was first discussed and developed in 2006 at a conference in Hadeland, Norway, that was organised by the Network on Contextual Politics in Developing Countries (CPD). The present volume follows from an earlier collection of essays on Politicising Democracy: The New Local Politics of Democratisation, which was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in That book pointed to a new local politics of democratisation in developing countries, following from structural changes, institutional reforms, and popular mobilisations that generate and transform democracy through local political spaces and actors. Yet it also questioned the manner and extent to which transitions to liberal democracy, decentralisation, and participation really construct more substantial democracy. Rethinking Popular Representation starts out from the deep concern with depoliticisation of public issues and popular interests that was developed in Politicising Democracy. It is argued that the root cause is flawed representation, due to both elitist institution building and fragmented citizen participation. Hence, we make a case for the need to rethink more democratic popular representation. Towards this end, an overarching analytical framework is developed in the introduction. This is followed by ten chapters examining key theoretical issues and empirical experiences of popular representation and a policy-oriented conclusion. A large number of scholars have participated in seminars, conferences, and discussions within the CPD network. In addition to the authors presented in this volume, we wish to acknowledge the contributions to the 2006 conference from Sofian Asgart, Winnie Bothe, Einar Braathen, Siri Hellevik, Preben Kaarsholm, Ilda Lourenco-Lindell, Ansa Masaud, Aris Arif Mundayat, Marianne Millstein, Ragnhild Muriaas, Debbie Prabawati, Anang Eko Priyono, Gyda Marås Sindre, Nur Iman Subono, Anne

10 x PREFACE Margrethe Sønneland, Nicolas Warouw, Jayadeva Uyangoda, and Berit Aasen. We are also grateful to the network coordinator Emine Isciel for organising the 2006 conference; to Lars Rudebeck, Lars Engberg-Pedersen, and an anonymous reviewer for valuable comments on earlier drafts; and to the Norwegian Research Council for providing funding for the CPD network.

11 Contributors Gianpaolo Baiocchi is associate professor of sociology and international studies at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States. He writes on urban politics, participation, and social theory. His most recent book, which is titled Making Spaces for Civil Society (with Patrick Heller and Marcelo Silva), is due out in Björn Beckman is professor of political science at Stockholm University, Sweden, with a teaching background in Nigeria. He does research mostly on trade unions in West and South Africa. His publications include Union Power in the Nigerian Textile Industry (with Gunilla Andrae, 1999), Labour Regimes and Liberalization: The Restructuring of State-Society Relations in Africa (edited with Lloyd Sachikonye, 2001), and Trade Unions and Party Politics: Labour Movements in Africa (edited with Sakhela Buhlungu and Lloyd Sachikonye, 2009). Lars Buur is senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies and Research Associate at Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. He has co-edited State Recognition and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa (2007) and The Security-Development Nexus (2007). Neera Chandhoke is professor of political science and director of the Developing Countries Research Centre, University of Delhi, India. Her publications include The Conceits of Civil Society (2003), Beyond Secularism: The Rights of Religious Minorities (1999), and The State and Civil Society: Explorations in Political Theory (1995). She is currently completing a manuscript on The Right of Secession: A Normative Enquiry. Jos Chathukulam is the director of the Centre for Rural Management, Kottayam, Kerala, India. John Harriss is the director of the new School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was previously director of the Development Studies Institute of the London School of Economics. He has long-standing interests in the society, politics, and the political economy of India. He is the author,

12 xii CONTRIBUTORS with Stuart Corbridge, of Reinventing India: Economic Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and Popular Democracy (2000) and of Depoliticizing Development: the World Bank and Social Capital (2001). Patrick Heller is associate professor of sociology at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States. He is the author of The Labor of Development: Workers and the Transformation of Capitalism in Kerala, India (1999) and a co-author of Social Democracy in the Periphery (2007). He has written on a range of topics on India, South Africa, and Brazil, including democratic deepening, the politics of decentralisation, local democracy, middle-class politics, and social movements. Peter P. Houtzager is an IDS fellow and a visiting scholar at the Centro Brasileiro de Analise e Planejamento (CEBRAP) in São Paulo, Brazil. His focus is on comparative politics and collective action. His writings include Changing Paths International Development and the New Politics of Inclusion (2003), and Os últimos cidadãos Moidernicxxaçõa e conflito no Brasil rural ( ) (2004). Adrian Gurza Lavalle has been a fellow researcher at the Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP) since 2001, and he currently serves as research director. He is a professor in political science at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. His focus is on political theory: comparative politics and civil society. His main field of research is on the politics of civil organisations. His writings include Beyond Comparative Anecdotalism: Lesson on Civil Society and Participation from São Paulo, Brazil (2005), In Whose Name Political Representation and Civil Organizations in Brazil (2006), and Vida pública e identidade nacional Leituras Brasileiras (2004). Nathan Quimpo. A long-time political activist in the Philippines before turning to an academic career, Nathan Quimpo has taught at the University of the Philippines and the University of Amsterdam and is currently an associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. Quimpo has authored Contested Democracy and the Left in the Philippines after Marcos (2008) and co-edited The U.S., the War on Terror and the Philippines (2008). His research interests include democracy and democratisation, conflict and peace studies, Southeast Asian politics, ethnicity and nationalism, political corruption, and political and social movements. Elin Selboe holds a Ph.D. degree in human geography from the University of Oslo, Norway. She has researched local mobilisation and politics in Senegal, and her dissertation is entitled Changing

13 CONTRIBUTORS xiii Continuities: Multi-Activity in the Network Politics of Colobane, Dakar (2008). Selboe s research interests include the dynamics of social networks and participation in associational life in the context of economic crisis, changes in political Islam, and processes of democratisation. Kristian Stokke is professor of human geography at the University of Oslo, Norway, specialising in movement politics and democratisation in South Africa and conflict transformation and peace building in Sri Lanka. His most recent books include Democratising Development: The Politics of Socio-economic Rights in South Africa (edited with Peris Jones, 2005) and Politicising Democracy: The New Local Politics of Democratisation (edited with John Harriss and Olle Törnquist, 2004). P. K. Michael Tharakan is vice chancellor of Kannur University, Kerala, India. He was formerly Sri Ramakrishna Hegde Chair Professor in Decentralisation and Governance at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, India; a member of the faculty at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, India; and the director of the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), Thrissur, India. Olle Törnquist is professor of political science and development research at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is the author of several works on popular politics and democracy, the supervisor of the participatory democracy surveys in Indonesia, and co-director of the new education and research program on Power, Conflict and Democracy in South and Southeast Asia. His most recent book (with Prasetyo and Birks) is Aceh: The Role of Democracy for Peace and Reconstruction. Gerry van Klinken is a senior researcher with the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). He coordinates a research program about provincial middle classes and youth called In Search of Middle Indonesia. After a previous career teaching physics and geophysics in Southeast Asia, he moved to Asian Studies with a dissertation in Indonesian history in His most recent monograph is Communal Violence and Democratization in Indonesia: Small Town Wars (2007). Neil Webster is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies where he heads the Politics and Governance Research Unit. He has published extensively on local politics and development issues in India. Recent books include the co-edited volume In the Name of the Poor: Contesting Political Space for Poverty Reduction (2002) and the co-authored work Do the Poor Matter Enough? A Comparative Study of European Aid for Poverty Reduction in India (2002).