Globalisering og motstand II Kontekstuelle case Kristian Stokke kristian.stokke@sgeo.uio.no
Zapatistbevegelsen i Mexico Mobiliseringsstrukturer Campesinos organisations Ejido structures Politiske muligheter The legacy of revolution (PRI). Combination of state coercion and cooptation.international solidarity Kollektiv identitet Indigenous identity: Reclaiming of rights and autonomy for those that are socially and culturally Marginalized: revindicatión étnica Strukturelle årsaker for kollektiv mobilisering Anti-NAFTA: uprising on January 1, 1994 Local conflicts over control of land; acute social crisis; climate of violence/racism Link to globalization: transformation of PRI-policies, e.g. revision of Article 27
Politisk Islam Mobiliseringsstrukturer Muslim institutions: brotherhoods, mosques, welfare centres, schools Politiske muligheter War of manoeuvre around secular and socially failing states Kollektiv identitet Islamic resurgence is not about religion per se, but Islam is the social cement that binds communities that are abandoned by the neoliberal state Strukturelle årsaker for kollektiv mobilisering Cultural homogenization cultural reaction to globalization (Westernization) / clash of cultures? Failure of secular-nationalism marginalization in the context of state retrenchment
Globalisation, Neo-liberalism, Liberal Democracy Globalisation Hollowing out of developmental states Global spread of formal liberal democracy Choiceless democracies? Neo-liberalism Liberal democracy New movement politics
Socio-economic rights and democracy Mutuality between SER and democracy SER is not a precondition for democracy, but their absence compromise democracy Democracy is a necessary but not sufficient condition for SER. No guarantee that democracy will deliver SER, but it creates spaces for democratic politics of rights
Assessing South Africa s democracy Judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights Progressive Constitution and Bill of Rights whereby socio-economic rights are justiciable Constitutional Court has upheld state obligations to socio-economic rights, but questions of implementation of court rulings Critical questions about reasonableness of state policies and regarding access to courts for claimants
Assessing South Africa s democracy Politics of economic and social policy-making Important achievements in social delivery, but also a remarkably conservative turn in policy-making Explained with reference to balance of power: Erosion of vertical accountability, lack of substantive uncertainty Political importance of labour and social movements politics of socioeconomic rights in the context of ANC hegemony
The role of post-apartheid movements Polarised political polemics Radical critics represent South African politics as an oppositional polarization between the neo-liberal state and popular interests and movements in civil society Liberal thinkers emphasize governance arrangements through which civil society is assumed to work with the state Need to transcend the false divide that has emerged between opposition and engagement in South Africa (Habib and Kotze 2003).
State / Civil Society Relations
Diverse Strategies of Activism The long march through the institutions (alliance politics) COSATU The NGO route (service provisioning) Homeless People s Federation The judicial route (legal action) Treatment Action Campaign The movement route (public protest) Anti-Privatisation Campaign Grievances, mobilisation, organisation, political access producing diverse and combined strategies,, but also fragmentation and disempowerment False dichotomy between political engagement and adversarial struggles
Local Social Movement Unionism? Labour unions Against privatisation of state enterprises Social movements Against privatisation of public services (water, electricity, housing) Organisational and political constraints
Post-Apartheid Movement Politics As fragmented, underresourced and issuebased as they may be, the presence of postapartheid social movements disrupts hegemony as they question the government s continued commitment to the working poor South African experiences demonstrate the importance of civil society activism within the political spaces of the democratic state, but also the problems of fragmentation and political exclusion of popular forces in local issue-based struggles.
Democracy, neoliberalism, movements Transition to burgeois society Coexistence of liberal democracy, neoliberalism and legacies of class and race inequalities Complexity of spaces opportunities and obstacles for popular struggles Post-apartheid social movements Diversity of issues and multiple strategies of engagement and advocay in regard to different state institutions. Limited political capacity amidst fragmentation of interests, organisational weaknesses and state coercion Nevertheless, such struggles reinsert a degree of political uncertainty in policy-making and implementation