Mobilizing for Democracy Citizen Action and the Politics of Public Participation

by Coelho, Vera Schatten; von Lieres, Bettina

• ISBN13: 9781848134454
• ISBN10: 1848134452
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-10-15
• Publisher: ZED BOOKS

Summary

This book is about how ordinary citizens and their organizations mobilize to deepen democracy. A collection of new empirical case studies from Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa illustrate how alternative forms of political mobilization -- such as protests, social participation, activism, litigation and lobbying -- engage with the formal institutions of representative democracy in ways that constitute the very essence of democratic politics and not, as many authors suggest, an indication of its failure. No other volume has brought together examples from such a broad Southern spectrum and covering such a diversity of actors: rural and urban dwellers, transnational activists, religious groups, politicians and social leaders. The cases illuminate the crucial contribution that citizen mobilization makes to democratization and the building of state institutions. Yet neither are these movements driven purely by idealism. They cases also reflect often the uneasy relationship between citizens and the institutions that are designed to foster their political participation. This book suggest ways to confront these challenges by recognizing -- as so many ordinary citizens already have -- that more just and equitable democratic systems can only emerge from more just and equitable societies.

Author Biography

Vera Schattan Coelho is a research fellow at Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP, the Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning), where she coordinates  the Citizenship and Development Group.  She was the co-editor with Andrea Cornwall of the earlier volume in the Zed Claiming Citizenship series, Spaces for Change? (2007). A Brazilian political scientist, she has written widely on issues of participation and social policy in Latin America. She serves as co-convenor of the Deepening Democracy working group of the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability.

 

Bettina von Lieres is a Senior Lecturer in the Political Studies Department at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa, and also teaches at the University of Toronto.   She was a contributing author to the earlier volume of this Zed series, Spaces of Change? (2007) A South African political scientist, she has written widely on issues of democracy, citizenship and marginalisation. She serves as co-convenor of the Deepening Democracy subgroup of the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability.

Table of Contents

Forward, John Gaventa  * Introduction, Vera Schattan P. Coelho & Bettina von Lieres * Part I: Mobilizing Society * 1. Changing the 'habits of the heart': development NGOs and the struggle for democratic values in Bangladesh by Naila Kabeer and Simeen Mahmud  * 2. Have NGO Political Empowerment Programs at the Grassroots Level Contributed to Deepening of Democracy in Kenya? by Celestine Nyamu Musembi * 3. The Nucleo Representativo das Associações (NRA) do Dombe Grande, Angola:  building democracy and citizenship at the local level by Idaci Ferreira and Sandra Roque * 4. How Deep is Deep democracy? Global Citizenship in Local spaces by Steven Robins * 5. How styles of activism influence social participation and democratic deliberation by Arilson Favareto, Yumi Gonçalves, Frederico menino, Carolina Galvanese, Vera S. P. Coelho * 6. Passivity or Protest? Understanding the dimensions of Mobilization on Rights to Services in Khayelitsha, Cape Town by Lisa Thompson and Ndodana Nleya * 7. The Role of Citizen Action in the Consolidation of Democracy in Nigeria by Jibrin Ibrahim and Samuel Egwu * Part II: Bridging State and Society * 8. Deepening Democracy in South Africa: Citizen Mobilization and Ward Committees by Bettina von Lieres * 9. The Making and Unmaking of a New Democratic Space by Andrea Cornwall * 10. The Infinite Agenda of Social Justice: Dalit Mobilization in the Institutions of Local Governance by Ranjita Mohanty * 11. “We got it to our heads that we should do the job of the state”: the Indigenous Peoples' Movement and the Health System in Acre, Brazil by Alex Shankland * 12. Public Involvement and Social Mobilization: A variable sum game? by Vera S. P. Coelho, Alexandre Ferraz, Fabiola Fanti, Meire Ribeiro    * 13. Dynamics of Political Change and transformation: Civil Society, Governance and the Culture of Politics in Kenya by Duncan Okello *