Patrick Heller

Degrees of Democracy: Some Comparative Lessons from India

This article draws on the case of India to address the question of democratization by exploring the dynamic interplay of the formal, effective, and substantive dimensions of democracy. Fifty-three years of almost uninterrupted democratic rule in India have done little to reduce the political, social, and economic marginalization of Indias popular classes. Within India the state of Kerala stands out as an exception. Democratic institutions have effectively managed social conflict and have also helped secure substantive gains for subordinate classes. Keralas departure from the national trajectory is located in historical patterns of social mobilization that coalesced around lower-class interests and produced forms of state-society engagement conducive to democratic deepening. Contrary to much of the transition literature, this case suggests that high levels of mobilization and redistributive demands have democracy-enhancing effects.

HEGEMONIC ASPIRATIONS: New Middle Class Politics and India's Democracy in Comparative Perspective

ABSTRACT This article uses an analysis of the rise of Indias New Middle Class (NMC) to develop a class analytics of democratic politics in India. The article locates the politics of Indias democracy within the framework of comparative class analytics and integrates class analysis with the politics of caste, religion, and language. The article develops two central arguments. The first is that the dominant fraction of the middle class plays a central role in the politics of hegemony. These hegemonic politics are played out both as attempts to coordinate the interests of the dominant classes and to forge internal unity within the highly diverse fragments of the middle class. But rather than producing the classical pattern of liberal hegemony (in which the ruling bloc actively elicits the consent of subordinate classes) in India these projects have been marked by middle-class illiberalism, and most notably a distancing from lower classes. Second, we argue that the contours of the NMC can be grasped as a class-in-practice, that is, as a class defined by its politics and the everyday practices through which it reproduces its privileged position. Sociocultural inequalities such as caste and language are an integral part of the process of middle-class formation. We argue that the NMC is a tangible and significant phenomenon, but one whose boundaries are constantly being defined and tested. The hegemonic aspirations of the NMC have taken the form of a politics of reaction, blending market liberalism and political and social illiberalism.

Democratic Deepening in India and South Africa

This article examines the trajectories of democratization in India and South Africa. Both democracies are exemplary cases of democratic consolidation but face critical challenges in deepening democracy. Focusing on the notion of `effective democracy, the article argues that subordinate groups have limited opportunities for meaningful engagement with the State. This problem is explored through an examination of social movements and local government. The article shows that the current crisis of citizenship that both countries face results from the subordination of civil society to political society.

Making Space for Civil Society: Institutional Reforms and Local Democracy in Brazil

This paper contributes to the growing body of research on participatory democracy and the literature on associational democracy by exploring the impact that institutional reforms have on local-level configurations of civil society. In the 1980s a wide range of participatory experiments were initiated in Brazil, most notably Participatory Budgeting in municipal governance. Municípios that adopted PB in principle devolve much or all of the decision making on new investments to decentralized participatory forums. In this paper we consider the results of an eight-city matched-pair analysis conducted in 2004, in which we selected municípios that adopted PB in 1997-2000, and matched them with a similar município that did not in the same period, drawing from the full sample of municípios over 20,000 inhabitants. Building on relational theories of civil society, we show that PB has clear but limited effects on civil society. It moves civil society practices from clientelism to associationalism, but does not contribute to the capacity of civil society to self-organize, at least in the time-frame considered. We also show that this democratizing effect on civil society practices and networks is conditioned by pre-existing state-civil society relations.

The Plasticity of Participation: Evidence from a Participatory Governance Experiment

Under the “People’s Campaign for Decentralised Planning,” initiated by the government of the Indian state of Kerala in 1996, significant planning and budgetary functions that had previously been controlled by state-level ministries, were devolved to the lowest tier of government— municipalities in urban areas, and gram panchayats (village councils) in rural areas. A key element of the campaign was the requirement that every gram panchayat organize open village assemblies—called Gram Sabhas—twice a year through which citizens could participate in formulating planning priorities, goals and projects. Using data from the first two years of the campaign, on the levels and composition of participation in the Gram Sabhas in all of Kerala’s 990 gram panchayats we empirically assess the explanatory power of the dominant existing paradigms of participation—social capital, rational choice, and social-historical. The basic patterns we document, as well as our more detailed analyses of the impact that a range of spatial, socioeconomic and political factors had on the levels and social depth of participation, provide broad support for a dynamic and contingent view of participation, a perspective that recognizes the “plasticity of participation.” ∗ We are indebted to the Kerala State Planning Board and in particular to Board member T.V. Thomas Isaac for providing us access to the data we use in this paper. During research trips in 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2002, in addition to obtaining these data, we conducted multiple interviews with key officials, civil society activists and Planning Board Members, visited several gram panchayats and attended numerous Gram Sabhas. Funding for these trips was provided by the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University. With funding from the Ford Foundation in India, and in collaboration with the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, we are currently conducting an intensive survey of 85 randomly selected panchayats, including over 900 interviews with key respondents. For details see Chaudhuri, Heller and Mukherjee (2001).

Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Challenges of globalization

Whereas roots of globalization are far reaching, i t is primarily a modern age phenomenon. Modern business operation and the world economy are characterized b y domination of multinational corporations, strong presence of the government in economy and the long-term tendency towards globalization in manufacturing, trading and c onsumption in the world. Containing both risks and opportunities, glo balization is a problem of manifold nature. For som e it means regression and falling into neocolonialism, the others glori fy it. It is logical to ask the following questions : What are the consequences of globalization for governments, nati ons, companies and individuals? What are the busine ss, social and ethical issues it causes? In one word, is it possib le to be ethical, to avoid and correct bad and ke ep good consequences of total phenomena as the globalization, and whether i t is rewarding in the increasing market competition ? ISSN: 1804-0527 (online) 1804-0519 (print) PP.7-10

The spatial dynamics of middle-class formation in postapartheid South Africa: enclavization and fragmentation in Johannesburg

In this chapter we argue that South Africas premier city, Johannesburg, has undergone a massive reconfiguration of its social geography since the demise of formal apartheid. Using census data and geographic informa- tion systems (GIS), we present evidence that this spatial transformation has been driven by a process of residential deracialization but one that has taken place within narrow class bands. Indeed, we show that change has been marked by a new process of middle-class formation that has specifically taken the form of what we call middle-class enclavization. We show moreover that this process of enclavization is marked by internal fragmentation with the increasing spatial compartmentalization of different fractions of the middle class. These findings in turn support broader arguments in the literature that emphasize the strategic practices, 1

Democracy, Participatory Politics and Development: Some Comparative Lessons from Brazil, India and South Africa

This article argues that in thinking about the challenges of inclusive democratic development in the global south we need to refocus attention on effective citizenship, that is, the actual capacity of citizens to make use of formal political and civic rights. Empirically this calls for closer analytic attention to the participatory dimensions of democracy and specifically to an examination of the political and institutional conditions under which decentralized participatory governance can be promoted. The essay reviews research findings from ambitious reform projects in participatory governance in Brazil, India (Kerala) and South Africa and draws out some comparative lessons that highlight the complex interplay of political parties and civil society.

Deliberation and development : Rethinking the role of voice and collective action in unequal societies

This book brings together two fields that rarely converse with one another: deliberative democracy and development studies. The study of deliberation— which explores normative and practical questions around group-based decision making via discussion or debate, particularly as analternate or supplement to voting or bargaining—has emerged as a critical part of the debate on democracy over the last two decades. Concurrently, the field of development has seen a spurt of interest in community-led development and participation premised on the ability of groups to arriveat decisions and manage resources via a process of discussion and debate. Despite the growing interest in both fields, they have rarely engaged with one another.Studying the intersection between deliberation and development can provide valuable insights into how to incorporate participation into development across a variety of arenas. Moving beyond broad theoreticalclaims, close examination of specific cases of deliberation and development allows scholars and practitioners to evaluate actual processes and to pose the question of how deliberation can work in the twin conditions of extreme inequality and low educational levels that characterize thedeveloping world.

Can Social Democracies Survive in the Global South

To succeed, social-democratic movements in the global South must steer a course toward a society without poverty or social exclusion, avoiding two current utopian projects. The first utopia is a neoliberal fantasy, the self-regulating market. In the words of Karl Polanyi in The Great Transformation, this would result in the demolition of society, with humanity robbed of the protective covering of social institutions. The second utopia, subscribed to by some tendencies in the global justice movement, advocates delinking and localization as post-growth strategies for achieving environmental sustainability, grass-roots democracy, and genuine community. In contrast, social democracy constitutes what the disillusioned Yugoslav communist, Milovan Djilas, approvingly called an unperfect society. The pursuit of perfection leads to despotism, Djilas warned; far better, then, to opt for perpetually unperfect societies—like those in Scandinavia—that pragmatically strive to reconcile liberty, equity, and community with the demands of a market economy.