Neil Webster

Rethinking popular representation

PART I: INTRODUCTION The Problem is Representation! Towards an Analytical Framework O.Tornquist PART II: DEEPENING THE PERSPECTIVE What is the Relationship Between Participation and Representation? N.Chandohoke The Paradox of Civil Society Representation: Constructing New Forms of Democratic Legitimacy in Brazil P.P.Houtzager & A.Gurza Lavalle Practices of Symbolic Representation K.Stokke & E.Selboe PART III: REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNANCE? Representative Governance or the Co-Option of Citizens? The Status of Service Users in Local Politics in West Bengal N.Webster The Politics of Gradualismo: Popular Particpation and Decentralized Governance in Mozambique L.Buur Representation by Design? Variations on Participatory Governance in Brazilian Municipios G.Baiocchi & P.Heller PART IV: CHALLENGES OF POPULAR REPRESENTATION Patronage Democracy in Provincial Indonesia G.V.Klinken Compromised Democracy: Observations on Popular Democratic Representation from Urban India J.Harriss Trade Unions and Popular Representation: Alliances and Institution Building African Experiences B.Beckman Popular Politics of Representation: Dilemmas and Experiments in Indonesia, the Indian State of Kerala, and the Philippines O.Tornquist , N.Quimpo & M.Tharakan PART V: CONCLUSIONS Implications for Policy and Practice N.Webster , O.Tornquist & K.Stokke

From Research to Practice: Towards the Democratic Institutionalisation of Nodes for Improved Representation

Democratisation and democratic institutionalisation are not peaceful processes. The heterogeneity of the demos, the inequalities that are present, and the divisions emanating from practices of exclusion all serve to ensure that conflict and struggle are intrinsic to democratic transition as demands for participation and representation are formulated, articulated, and opposed. In the introductory chapter, Tornquist made a theoretical argument about the stagnation of democracy in post- colonial states, emphasising the depoliticisation of public affairs and the problems of flawed representation. This is also the most apparent message to emerge from the case studies in this book. They also carry many separate messages and lessons to be learned, practices to be considered. Rather than seek to summarise these lessons and experiences in this concluding chapter, we wish instead to build on them by asking what role can policy play and what role can those who advise, formulate, and implement policy play with regard to popular representative democracy? Our proposition is that the right policies can facilitate a particular direction in development in that they can shape a more enabling environment for popular representation and they can moderate the level and form of conflict that characterises such change. The same proposition has as its anti-thesis that the wrong policies or the right policies wrongly implemented can have undemocratic outcomes as in strengthening the authorisation of the representative while reducing her accountability.

Corporatism and the Development of Private Aid Organizations in Denmark

Private aid has long been an important element in the majority of countries’ development assistance. It has provided means by which to engage with populations in developing countries and assist their development without going directly to their governments; it also enables citizens in the more developed countries of the world to organize and support those they identify with in the developing world; a way by which ‘to do some good’. While the emergence and growth of private aid organizations in Denmark might on the surface appear not so different from that found in most other western European countries, there are some important differences that emerge on closer investigation. In particular the corporate nature of Denmark’s development has provided a strong organizational basis from which to organize private aid; it might also have provided for a stronger sense of solidarity with those facing social exclusion and economic marginalization elsewhere. One consequence is also found in the expectations placed upon the Danish government to support private aid initiatives. For its part, the Danish state has proved itself not to be adverse to using this close partnership to serve the government’s other policy agendas. Finally, the Danish economy performed quite strongly in the 1960s and onwards, providing a relatively broad wealth base from which private aid can be resourced, both from the state revenues generated and from private citizens.

School Provision, the Capacity to Aspire, and the State of Popular Representation in West Bengal

The State of West Bengal in India has become a case study for an increasing number of researchers looking to study popular representation in action. The devolved system of local government has been assessed for its capacity to be more effective, more efficient, and, not least, more equitable in service delivery and promotion of economic development. Opinions vary and range from emphasising the pro-poor outcomes that have been achieved in the agrarian economy to the negative consequences of a new political party that dominates local society.1 Among development agencies, the assessment is generally positive, with an increasing willingness to channel programs and resources through local representative government, the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs). However, have citizens retained political agency in this scenario of local governance or, to return to Pitkin’s conceptualisation of representation, is it a case of authorisation without accountability?