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Actors
and Approaches in Local Politics (2002).
The
first network conference revolved around four principal themes:
1. Globalization
and the localization of politics
It is commonly asserted that economic globalization is an inevitable
and universal force that undermines political regulation in general and
Third World nation-states in particular. Notwithstanding the need to understand
globalization as a political and discursive construction, it is important
to examine the complexity of the hollowing out of the nation-state, i.e.
the multiple scales and forms of regulation that emerge in the context
of economic globalization, and the new political spaces that are created
through such transformations. The first theme focused on the importance
of local politics in the context of globalization, and the means of understanding
local development politically.
2. New
democracies and old everyday politics
It is commonly assumed that formal democratisation and decentralization
will yield participatory local development and empowerment. While this
assumption may hold true under certain circumstances, it seems obvious
that new and transformed local political spaces can be utilized by a range
of existing and new political actors with diverse instrumental and (non)democratic
goals. This means that it is important to examine both the ways in which
local elite and non-elite actors adjust and utilize new political spaces
and the forces of change in local politics. The third theme focused especially
on existing local actors’ strategies of adjustment to democratic
transformations.
3. Forces
of change in local politics
Organized civil societies and popular collective movements are often identified
as important forces of local democratisation and empowerment, as well
as resistance to globalization. This calls for critical approaches and
contextual examinations of movement politics, i.e. their strategies regarding
diverse political spaces, mobilisation of communities and politicisation
of issues, and the consequences of such strategic deliberations for questions
of substantial local democratisation. The fourth theme focused on the
means of critically examining powers and political practices of such popular
local forces.
4. Human
rights-based democratisation
Development interventions have been characterised by an increased emphasis
on rights-based development and democratisation. Human rights are commonly
seen as integral to the introduction and consolidation of liberal democracy.
While the existence of formal rights generate political spaces for different
political actors, it is important to examine critically and contextually
the links between human rights regimes and substantial democratisation
and, not the least, to analyse the links between national rights regimes
and local politics. The second theme paid due attention to formal rights
at the national level while emphasising the political processes through
which rights are obtained and exercised locally.
The Programme was the following:
Thursday,
October 17, 2002
09.15-09.45
Opening session
THEME
1. Globalization and the localization of politics
09.45-10.30
James Mittelman (International Service, American University): Microencounters
with globalisation
10.30-10.45
Break
10.45-11.30
Adam Habib (Centre for Civil Society, University of Natal): Civil
society, governance and development in an era of globalisation
11.30-12.00
Sophie Oldfield (Geography, University of Cape Town): Synergy
or separation? Analyzing local politics in transitional states
12.00-13.00
Lunch
13.00-15.00
Paper presentations and general discussion (theme
1)
- Nils
Butenschön
(Norwegian Institute for Human Rights): The relationship between
human rights and conceptions of citizenship
- Commentator:
Kjell E. Kjellman (Sociology, University of Oslo)
15.00-15.30
Break
THEME
2. New democracies and old everyday politics
15.30-16.15
Bertil Lintner (Senior writor, Far Eastern Economic Review): Crime,
business and politics in Asia
16.15-16.45
John McNeish (Comparative Research Programme on Poverty, University
of Bergen): The
archaeology of democracy and development in Highland Bolivia
16.45-17.00
Break
17.00-18.00
Paper presentations (2 parallell sessions):
Friday, October 18, 2002
9.15-10.00
John Harriss (Development Studies, London School of Economics and
Political Science): Reactionary
reinvention of Indian democracy?
10.00-11.00
General discussion (theme
2)
- Commentator:
Stein Sundstøl Eriksen (NUPI)
11.00-11.15
Break
THEME
3. Forces of change in local politics
11.15-12.00
Joel Rocamora (Institute for Popular Democracy, Manila): Between
bossism and good governance:
The politics
of civil society in the Philippines
12.00-13.00
Lunch
13.00-13.45
Michael Tharakan (Center for Development Studies, Kerala): Forces
of change in local politics: lessons from the Kerala experience
13.45-14.00
Break
14.00-14.30
Daniel Chavez (Transnational Institute, Amsterdam): Porto
Alegre: a new, sustainable and replicable model of participatory democracy
from the South? Figures
14.30-15.00
Kristian Stokke (Human Geography, University of Oslo): Conceptualizing
the capacity of popular actors in local politics
15.00-15.15
Break
15.15-16.15
Paper presentations (2 parallell sessions):
16.15-16.30
Break
16.30-17.30
General discussion (theme
3)
- Commentator:
Liv Tørres (FAFO)
Saturday,
October 19, 2002
THEME
4. Human rights-based democratisation
10.00-10.45
David Beetham (Politics, University of Leeds): Assessing
progress in democracy and human rights
10.45-11.30
Olle Törnquist (Political Science, University of Oslo): Substantial
democratisation
11.30-12.30
Lunch
12.30-13.30
Paper presentations
13.30-15.00
General discussion (theme
4) and summing up
- Commentator:
John Harriss (London School of Economics and Political Science)
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