THE POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITS OF URBAN CONTESTATION IN TIMES OF TURBULENCE AND CRISIS Crispian Fuller and Dr Crispian Fuller School of Planning and Geography Cardiff University Dr Karen West Sociology and Policy Group Aston University
Introduction Considerable cuts in expenditure for public services Intensification of marketisation and devolved responsibility Cities are sites of mediation and pro-activity Conceptualise mediation processes within cities Utilise Pragmatist Sociology and psycho-social approaches to politics (e.g. Laclau; Zizek)
The context of austerity Nation state devolving austerity downwards to subnational spaces Urban governing actors as mediating actors between nation state policies and citizens Peck (2012) - leading to a new operational matrix for urban politics For Peck (2012) involves devolved risk, destructive creativity and deficit politics
Leads to these research questions. 1. Where and why does contestation emerge? 2. What critiques are deployed by actors, and what form do they take? 3. What justifications and processes of subordination are deployed by key decision-makers, and what form do they take? 4. Where and how does displaced critique find expression by alternative means?
Pragmatist sociology Arose in response to perceived inadequacies of Bourdieu s critical sociology Boltanski and Thévenot (2006) examined situations of contestation, but in reference to societal values Boltanski (2011) macro and micro focus Boltanski - difference between the world and reality Reality can be subject to critique and the flux of life
Bodiless semantically-orientated institutions are formed to reduce critique Discursive formations seeking to state the whatness of what is Seek to reduce the difference between symbolic (reality) and state of affairs (world) (practical register) Institutions are subject to constant tests of confirmation through social interactions
Institutions cannot fully represent the world Institutions are conveyed by human actors Situations are specific Metapragmatic register possibility of critique Actors question relations between symbolic and states of affairs Confirmative agencies - reiterate the the whatness of what is through re-validation of meaning
POST-MARXIST PSYCHO- ANALYTICAL APPROACHES Acts of identification and ideological hegemony originate with the lacking subject Subject enters the symbolic world of language to recover pre-symbolic enjoyment Identifies with (incomplete) discursive formations With incompleteness - subject constructs a fantasy
Function is to- explain why ordinary enjoyment is lacking serves to guarantee [the subject s] universe of meaning Fantasmatic narratives may take various forms beatific form horrific form theft of enjoyment
THE CASE OF BIRMINGHAM 1,035.488m budget for 2013-14 Huge budget cuts of 600m up to 2017 Potential job losses of over 5,000 Substantial restructuring of welfare services and regeneration activity
FRAMING OF REALITY AND CREATION OF INSTITUTIONS Coalition government has presented a world of constraints and opportunities But framed into a reality where elements can be managed Coalition - enrol austerity and market/civic values into practical registers of the pragmatics of austerity Producing new institutions - bring symbolic and pragmatic together Includes less govt. provision, budget cuts, devolved responsibility and marketisation
Budget cuts -framed into a practical register by way of symbolic statements Cameron s Age of austerity discourse framed a world of crisis, but a symbolic reality in which this can be addressed by way of cuts: There are deep, dark clouds over our economy, our society, and our whole political system. Steering our country through this storm; reaching the sunshine on the far side cannot mean sticking to the same, wrong course. (The age of austerity: Rt Hon David Cameron, April 26 2009)
Confirmation of practical register by Birmingham Council There is no magic wand available and it would be a cruel deception to claim otherwise. We must by law balance the budget each year. We are not prepared to defy the law and set a deficit budget as some have urged us to do. (Budget, 2013: 10) Particularly evident in need to reduce expenditure we have already reached the point where efficiency and transformational savings are no longer enough and we have no alternative but to significantly reduce expenditure on services.
Fantasmatic logics therefore evident cuts equal survival of other services Construction of a reality in which the Council is performing in a crisis As confirmed in the discursive statements of the budget statement: Many at the public meetings stressed the importance of getting the balance right between crisis management/ protecting the most vulnerable on the one hand, and making sure that the agencies in the City work together better on prevention activity on the other. (BCC, 2012)
These fantasmatic crisis discourses have defended managerial domination by Council Occurs through (1) need for change; (2) role of experts Presentation of change as abstract laws beyond control of citizens relating to world economy and responsible council: Whatever we think about the cuts, a responsible council must plan how to live within the severely reduced income we will have. Like the upheavals in the world economy, these challenges were not made in Birmingham but we have no choice but to meet them head on. Many people will have a contribution they can make and we want to work with the people of the city to find our way through these difficult times (Budget, 2013: 10)
Then symbolic frames the need for expertise to mitigation abstract tendencies Council has already been able to cut budgets The realities of setting a reducing budget are not new. The Council has been making efficiency savings for several years. things up from a customer perspective, and reduc[ing] duplication, and being able to work with others who can do things more effectively and cost effectively (BCC, 2013) All represents - alignment of symbolic propositions and states of affairs
CONTESTING AUSTERITY Dissonance between symbolic institutions and state of affairs Children s Services four strategic directors in the last four years Critique has come from within the Council - Scrutiny committee chairman Services is in meltdown and at crisis point Restructuring to larger directorates - critique from Opposition councillors risky way of doing things and a recipe for chaos (Councillor Alan Rudge) Relates to states of affairs - large directorates are difficult for one person to run
Managerial defense - Retort to democractic principles: Changes to the council constitution which were approved at the AGM effectively reduces the overall structure from six directorates to five. Represents a fantasmatic logic resort to the fantasy of democracy as an ends Beyond the Council critique has arisen through various interest groups e.g. Birmingham Against the Cuts
Critique - insufficient capacity of the district authorities that are to get devolved responsibilities The Conservative deputy leader stated that - Less than five per cent of the council s budget is devolved to districts and 0.02 per cent to the 40 wards.the districts do not have the ability to alter contracts for refuse collection or parks and leisure services. (Birmingham Mail, 29 th July, 2013) Critique appeals to world beyond the suffering in Birmingham - There is huge tax avoidance by the rich. Children, the disabled, the unemployed, the homeless - all the people who didn t cause the financial crisis are being made to pay for it. (Bob Whitehead, Birmingham Against The Cuts)
Managerial defence - reference to abstract legal rules Many contributors to public meetings suggested that the Council should set a needs based, deficit budget. The Leader and Cabinet explained that they would not be doing this as it was illegal and would lead to central government taking over Managerial defence by the Council - resort to democratic ethics: Changes to the council constitution which were approved at the AGM effectively reduces the overall structure from six directorates to five (BCC, 2013).
CONCLUSION Theoretical framework can examine intersection of state-led austerity practices and the everyday New austerity institutions created by the nation state are seeking to bring together the symbolic and pragmatics of everyday life Example of Birmingham indicates that governing actors follow fantasmatic logics to become confirmation agencies Critique has arisen but largely beyond governing social groups