Einar Braathen

Institutions matter: engineers and telecommunication development in Mozambique and Zimbabwe

The approach in the paper is that institutions matter, i.e. perceptions, norms, values, role patterns and organisations that shape conduct. This approach is used in seeking to explain the differences in telecom developments in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The question in the paper is why telecom developments in Mozambique have been faster than in Zimbabwe even though Zimbabwe had a better starting point in terms of economic development than Mozambique.

Transformation Institutionalized? Making Sense of Participatory Democracy in the Lula Era

Brazil’s recent social changes have been dramatic. Apart from the impressive reduction in poverty and seemingly inexhaustible economic growth of recent years, the country’s politics seem like a testament to the possibilities of social-movement-driven change. With the end of the military dictatorship (1964–85), social movements of all sorts emerged as protagonists of a new kind of politics. They were radical, yet democratic; they challenged the system, but were oriented towards a sense of the public good; militant, but also civic. The ‘new trade union unionism’, the urban movement, the health movement, the feminist movement, the black and student movements were some of the expressions of what Evelina Dagnino (2004) described as the ‘new citizenship’ of the time. In addition to imagining new democratic practices and institutions to challenge Brazil’s deeply rooted social authoritarianism, these movements would largely find expression in the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), or the Workers Party. The election in 2002 of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, a former metal worker and strike leader with little in the way of formal education, was the end of a ‘long march through institutions’ for the party, after two decades of failed national campaigns but often successful local administrations run on the principles of participatory democracy.

Churches and Peace-Building in Eastern DR Congo and Northern Uganda

By using church networks as a platform, different actors have tried to involve in peace-building processes in Northern Uganda and Eastern DR Congo. This church-led peace-building approach is legitimised in part with reference to the unique position the church holds locally in these societies, and in part because their leaders are held in high esteem nationally and transnationally. In this article, we examine and compare church-led peace involvement in these two regions of the Great Lakes region from the local to the transnational, by asking how these two cases differ and what they have in common.

A question of social sustainability: Urban interventions in critical neighbourhoods in Portugal and Norway

Urban interventions in deprived neighbourhoods rank high on the agenda in European countries. This article explores what aspects of targeted urban-area interventions involve and appreciate local people during the intervention process so that they become motivated to continue to take care of and develop their area afterwards. Local social sustainability stands out as a necessary prerequisite for continued upkeep of upgraded urban neighbourhoods. The analysis builds on a ‘most different approach’, a comparison of interventions in the far south (Lisbon) and north (Oslo) of Europe. The article concludes that in addition to relevant goals and progress, local support was conditioned on how goals, organization and participation were worked out and implemented.

Collective heritage and urban politics: an uncertain future for the living culture of Rio de Janeiro?

ABSTRACT During the last decades, significant urban transformations in Rio de Janeiro led to rapid structural changes in the historic core of the city and the favelas. The following population removals, evictions and physical destruction of neighbourhoods resulted in diverse local and national forms of protest and resistance, which were widely reported in the media. But what of the cultural heritage attached to the displaced people and the disrupted places? Our research focusses on the collective nature of this cultural heritage. We argue that the current dominant political and planning decisions cannot accommodate the city’s living cultural heritage which relies on everyday human activities and draws on collective social practices, everyday knowledge and rituals of social life. To support our arguments, we conducted an analysis of Rio’s collective heritage with regard to urban politics using the case study of two favelas, Vila Autódromo and Morro da Providência, which have been severely affected by urban transformations during the planning of the mega-events of 2014 and 2016. Our results reveal that urban transformations cause undue stress on the collective heritage of these communities. They also highlight the potential of using collective heritage in participation processes in urban development projects as an insurgent factor.