Mobilizing for Democracy Citizen Action and the Politics of Public Participation

by Coelho, Vera Schatten; von Lieres, Bettina

• ISBN13: 9781848134461
• ISBN10: 1848134460
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-15
• Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

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

Tables and figures	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
Acronyms	p. x
Foreword	p. xiii
Mobilizing for democracy: citizen engagement and the politics of public participation	p. 1
Associational mobilization: constructing citizenship
Have civil society organizations' political empowerment programmes contributed to a deepening of democracy in Kenya?	p. 23
Microfinance and social mobilization: alternative pathways to grassroots democracy?	p. 48
Building democracy and citizenship at the local level: the Núcleo Representative das Associações do Dombe Grande	p. 72
Sociai movements: contesting political authority and building state responsiveness
The Indigenous Peoples' Movement, 'forest citizenship' and struggles over health services in Acre, Brazil	p. 99
Citizen action and the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria: a study of the 2007 movement	p. 120
How deep is 'deep democracy'? Grassroots globalization from Mumbai to Cape Town	p. 143
Citizen involvement in formal governance mechanisms
The infinite agenda of social justice: dalit mobilization in Indian institutions of local governance	p. 159
Mobilization and participation: a win-win game?	p. 176
The dynamics of political change and transition: civil society, governance and the culture of politics in Kenya	p. 199
Where and how to participate?
Passivity or protest? Understanding the dimensions of mobilization on rights to services in Khayelitsha, Cape Town	p. 223
How styles of activism influence social participation and democratic deliberation	p. 243
About the contributors	p. 264
Bibliography	p. 268
Index	p. 280
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