Anthropology of direct democracy

This study examines a transformative process unfolding in the city of Bhuj that aims to challenge the
mainstream model of urban planning and governance. Under the Homes in the City (HIC) program
initiated by five civil society organisations (Hunnarshala, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, Arid
Communities and Technologies, Sahjeevan, and SETU Abhiyan), along with issue-based collectives and
citizens, a decentralised ward level planning and decision making process, along with strengthening of
Municipalities and a holistic and integrated approach is being attempted. The study details the work of
these actors, describes the decentralised governance being attempted, and indicates the strengths and
weaknesses in integrating varied aspects into the planning. Based on an analysis of four crucial aspects of
a successful democracy – rights, capacity, forums, and maturity – as relevant to the Bhuj decentralisation
process, this study concludes with some suggestions and indications of steps that could help in
strengthening the process.

In establishing an anarchic framework for understanding public space as a vision for radical democracy, this article proceeds as a theoretical inquiry into how an agonistic public space might become the basis of emancipation. Public space is presented as an opportunity to move beyond the technocratic elitism that often characterizes both civil societies and the neoliberal approach to development, and is further recognized as the battlefield on which the conflicting interests of the world's rich and poor are set. Contributing to the growing recognition that geographies of resistance are relational, where the “global” and the “local” are understood as co-constitutive, a radical democratic ideal grounded in material public space is presented as paramount to repealing archic power in general, and neoliberalism’s exclusionary logic in particular.

Neoliberal economics have emerged in the post-Cold War era as the predominant ideological tenet applied to the development of countries in the global south. For much of the global south, however, the promise that markets will bring increased standards of living and emancipation from tyranny has been an empty one. Instead, neoliberalisation has increased the gap between rich and poor and unleashed a firestorm of social ills.

This book deals with the post-conflict geographies of violence and neoliberalisation in Cambodia. Applying a geographical analysis to contemporary Cambodian politics, the author employs notions of neoliberalism, public space, and radical democracy as the most substantive components of its theoretical edifice. He argues that the promotion of unfettered marketisation is the foremost causal factor in the country’s inability to consolidate democracy following a United Nations sponsored transition. The book demonstrates Cambodian perspectives on the role of public space in Cambodia's process of democratic development and explains the implications of violence and its relationship with neoliberalism.

Taking into account the transition from war to peace, authoritarianism to democracy, and command economy to a free market, this book offers a critical appraisal of the political economy in Cambodia.
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Reviews:

Gunn, G. C. 2013. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43.1: 188-191.

Brickell, K. 2011. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 52.3: 372-374.

Percival, T. 2011. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 32.2: 270-272.

Christie, R. 2010. South East Asia Research, 19.2: 349-372.

Ordóñez de Pablos, P. 2010. International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management, 1.4: 65-66.

Many of the works on Middle Eastern democracy, whether from the neo-Orientalist camp or from those who avidly detail and support the region’s democratic developments, are based on a Western conception of democracy. This is the result of a discursive lineage that has its antecedents in the erroneous belief that democracy miraculously sprang out of Greek civilization in the fifth century B.C. This superior system of governance was later utilized by the Roman Empire and arguably gave rise to those great moments in the construction and propagation of Western civilization. Democracy, in its modern, representative form, resurfaced later as a result of the major social upheavals that transformed Europe and America during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, many of the scientific methods, literary motifs and political systems that have formed the major cultural discourses of Western civilization ironically have their origins in the ancient Afro-Asiatic world. By placing the emphasis on the common heritage of both parts of wider Eurasia in the urban revolution of the Bronze Age, these scholars are not only able to undo the longstanding binaries between East and West, but are also able to gain new insights into the origins of some of humankind’s greatest achievements. Specifically, as is detailed below, these achievements include the earliest political mechanisms for human governance, “primitive democracy.”

During Hugo Chávez's presidency, Venezuelan society underwent a sudden—and vicious—split between the Chavistas and the Opposition. What accounts for the extreme intensity of the split? How did differences so quickly become irreconcilable? What role did the media play? Answering these and related questions, Ana Mallén and María Pilar García-Guadilla explore how participatory democracy led to profound social polarization in Venezuela. (Forthcoming April 2017)

Neoliberal policies explain why authoritarianism and violence remain the principal modes of governance among many ruling elites in posttransitional settings. Using Cambodia as an empirical case to illustrate the neoliberalizing process, the promotion of intense marketization is revealed as a foremost causal factor in a country's inability to consolidate democracy following political transition. Neoliberalization effectively acts to suffocate an indigenous burgeoning of democratic politics. Such asphyxiation is brought to bear under the neoliberal rhetoric of order and stability, which can be read through the (re)production of public space. The preoccupation with order and stability serves the interests of capital at the global level and political elites at the level of the nation-state. Citizens themselves may fiercely contest these particular interests in a quest for a more radical democracy, as evidenced by the burgeoning geographies of protest that have emerged in Cambodian public spaces in the posttransition era.

The People's Mic is a new genre of political speech. In Occupy Wall Street (OWS) general assemblies, this tactile media for public deliberation was integral to embodying new political community across American cities in a globally oriented movement of the squares. Whether or not OWS has exemplified direct democracy per se, the People's Mic has cultivated new forms of democratic charisma between previously disaggregated constituencies-a "leaderful charisma", with historical roots in pious American oratorical traditions ("hallowed speech") and more recent movements for intercultural solidarity building (global justice, horizontalist, feminist, etc.). In this article, I signal how the People's Mic atavistically conjured and resembled the American town hall meeting in a contemporary and heterogeneous US frontier assembly. Before its strategic incapacitation, the Occupy movement's widespread use of People's Mic served to undermine the authority of private-public monopolies and to place a check on mounting police repression of urban space.

Tables 3. 1 Resistance to forest clearing 68 3.2 The constriction of the public sphere 79 4.1 Symptoms of a weak state 4.2 Forced evictions I ll 4.3 The battle of homclcssness 4.4 Freedom of assembly under fire 4.5 The legal chokehold on public opinion and information 4.6 Unionization and the contestation over labor exploitation 4. 7 The struggle for land 4.8 Landscapes of protest and his marvellous humor and careful guidance throughout the early stages of this process have been invaluable. My time at Queen's was further enriched by many individ uals, where

Neoliberal policies explain why authoritarianism and violence remain the principal modes of governance among many ruling elites in posttransitional settings. Using Cambodia as an empirical case to illustrate the neoliberalizing process, the promotion of intense marketization is revealed as a foremost causal factor in a country's inability to consolidate democracy following political transition. Neoliberalization effectively acts to suffocate an indigenous burgeoning of democratic politics. Such asphyxiation is brought to bear under the neoliberal rhetoric of order and stability, which can be read through the (re)production of public space. The preoccupation with order and stability serves the interests of capital at the global level and political elites at the level of the nation-state. Citizens themselves may fiercely contest these particular interests in a quest for a more radical democracy, as evidenced by the burgeoning geographies of protest that have emerged in Cambodian public spaces in the posttransition era. Key Words: Cambodia, neoliberalism, public space, radical democracy, violence.

The current financial crisis highlights two trends that
offer some indication of what post-democracy might look like. The
first trend – authoritarian repression – is characterised by increased
acceptability of far-right ideologies and pre-emptive, militarised
policing, both of which make protest more dangerous. The second
trend, by contrast, involves the refusal of many social movements to express their demands through traditional democratic channels,
such as elected representatives and referenda. These movements have designed elaborate decision-making procedures that promote a form of radical equality dubbed horizontality, which is viewed by many participants as a potential replacement for political systems based on representation and electoral politics.

This article explores the role of conflict in fostering equality within the decision-making processes of the alterglobalization movement. I argue that movement actors treat conflict as constructive because it helps create “diversity.” Movement actors transform conflict from adversarial to constructive through a continuous process of decentralizing power referred to as “horizontality.” This decentralization of power is achieved through network-based decision-making structures that reject unity through agreement in
favor of connections between differences. Drawing on over 8 years of ethnographic research into movement decision-making practices, I argue that these movement practices show that although diversity leads to conflict, adversarial conflict is not caused by this flow of diversity; adversarial conflict arises only when these flows are blocked. Movement practices demonstrate that conflict can be productive if it is given space for expression. [alterglobalization movement, conflict, democracy, decision making, diversity, networks]

Explores the necessity for two-tier government in urban areas, with public powers granted to directly democratic neighborhood assemblies, to satisfy both political and economic empowerment needs and to stop the "endless cycle of repression, rebellion, and reform."

This paper analyses the minutes of Occupy General Assemblies at five different occupations, including three in North America, one in London, and one in Sydney. It explores the General Assembly as a transferable feature of the Occupy movement, responding to commentaries that describe it as an ‘open source movement’, and looks at both the General Assembly itself and some of the internal practices such as hand signals and the people’s microphone. It also goes deeper into the processes of the General Assembly to highlight some of the tensions within the movement relating to process, by drawing out the discourses of process present in the minutes of these meetings and how certain processual features were framed by participants. The paper is a position paper for further research that makes comparisons between different occupations, testing the proposition that Occupy was a meme as well as a movement, and how this played out in its participatory practices.

Available on request or in the TASA Proceedings

Днес научаваме, че "нова лява формация под името ЗАЕДНО" е била учредена в София /1/. От достъпната информация се вижда веднага, че освен името, което носи Дисидентското Движение ЗАЕДНО, това "ново политическо движение" или "коалиция от граждански групи, малки партии и бизнес сдружения" (според речите, които видяхме по "ТВ Евроком"), е заимствало и елементи от нашите цели и задачи.

Единствената причина, поради която българите все още не са започнали да излизат от опиянението, до което официалните медии ги докараха по повод поредния цирк наречен "избори", е продължаващата трескава -макар и вече не еуфорична -кампания около "новото" в политическия живот на коматозната ни държава. Дрънканиците, "прогнозите", "реформите", "промените" се сипят -само като фантазии на авторите, разбира се -и така медиите "доказват" необходимостта от своето съществуване на тези, които имат нужда от такова доказателство. Презумпцията е, че в едно демократично общество съвкупно това е народът, но печалната истина е, че доказателства са нужни само на тези, които поръчват музиката (на която народът да танцува), тоест статуквото, чийто личен състав ние бележим с обобщеното понятие "Номенклатура".

Berts voordracht te zonnewijzer. Geteste materie aan de praktijk toelichten. Gaan voor een samenleving op mensenmaat. Afvragen of de oorlog van allen tegen allen weldra gaat beginnen. Voorheen een moeilijke historische periode. In de media komen apocalyptische beelden naar boven. Er bestaat heel wat speculatie hier omtrent. Volgens mij is het nog niet de eindtijd. We leven nu in wat we in het nieuwe testament de kleine Apocalyps zouden noemen. Teneinde heeft het alles te maken met wat ik nu ga vertellen over de driegeleding van het maatschappelijk organisme. Want een nieuw feit, dat we geboren worden, levert veel weerstand op. We zijn met veel zaken bezig die op til staan in de mens en zijn samenleving op aarde en dat vergt aanpassingen. Dit levert een enorme weerstand op. Ik zal je het weldra weten te zeggen. En er eventjes heel wat dieper op ingaan. De mens is natuurlijk niet alleen een goed wezen. Ontwikkeling en menselijk potentieel staan tegenover het geëigende egoïsme. Hier een schrijver uit 2006 waar ik op aanhaal. Er zijn aannemelijke krachten uitlegbaar. Die die nieuwe impuls gaan baar lamleggen Dat is in onze schoot geworpen en niet zelf verworven. We moeten gaan uitmaken voor wat wel degelijk aan ons eigen is in die samenleving. Alles wat wij zien wijst meer en meer op menselijke situaties. We zullen het probleem maar hebben met rechten geconfronteerd te zitten. Wij denken dat als de idee goed is en doordacht genoeg dan kunnen we ermee wat waarmaken. Dat is heel kort de gespannen boog erdoorheen uitgedrukt. Ik ga moeten met een ander hoofdstuk aanmanen. We zullen zien waar we de rode draad doorheen trekken. Onduidelijkheden mag je zeker in vragen op me afvuren. Ten laatste maken we de aansluitende oefening. Hoe zit het in elkaar en hoe testen we dit even uit. We worden zintuiglijk gewaar van wat er wel degelijk mankeert. We doorzien zelf het probleem en komen zelf tot antwoorden. De paus zegt niet hoe het moet zijn maar wij voelen dit echter in feite zelf aan. We gaan dus niet ineens iets bekomen. Over drie jaar staan we vele stappen verder. Dus een zintuig voor maatschappelijk georiënteerde problematiek ontwikkelt men van zelf. Wat scheelt er en wat zijn eigenlijk dan wel gezonde houwvasten. Wij zijn bezig met het sociale namelijk die driegeleding Het organisme is gekend, van sociale driegeleding, maar is juister ingeluid als de driegeleding van het maatschappelijk organisme. Dat we er eensgestemd mee zouden kunnen omgaan. Maar van welk boek uit de visie op de mens in de praktijk dan wel. Wij zijn praktisch vooruit op de zaken aan het lopen.

In the Weimar Republic, Germans for the first time experimented with direct democrarcy. But only two referendums made it to the polling stations. GERMAN: In Weimar experimentierten die Deutschen erstmals mit direkter Demokratie. Doch nur zwei Volksentscheide kamen an den Urnen an.
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• Schlagwörter: Agitation, Beamte, Bewegung, Bilderbogen, Boykott, Comics, Demokratie, Demobilisierung, Enteignung, Freiheitsgesetz, Fürstenenteignung, Gegnerbeobachtung, Gerücht, Gewerkschaften, Kampagne, Karikatur, Kommunismus, Kriegsschuld, Mobilisierung, Nationalismus, Nationalsozialismus, Öffentliche Meinung, Pazifismus, Plakat, Plebiszit, Presse, Propaganda, Quorum, Radio, Rechtsextremismus, Referendum, Reparationen, Rheinland, Rundfunk, Sozialismus, Symbolik, Volksbegehren, Volksentscheid, Volksgesetz, Young-Plan, Weimarer Republik, Zuchthausparagraf
• Organisationen: DNVP, DVP, KPD, NSDAP, SPD, Vereinigung Deutscher Hofkammern, Kirchen, Ufa-Film, Reichsausschuss für das deutsche Volksbegehren gegen Young-Plan und Kriegsschuldlüge, Reichszentrale für Heimatdienst (RfH), Abter-Film, Stahlhelm
• Personen: Albert Einstein, Adolf Hitler, Alfred Hugenberg, Otmar Jung, Alfred Kerr, Käthe Kollwitz, Carl von Ossietzky, Erwin Piscator, Hermann Pünder, Kurt Tucholsky, Owen Young, Heinrich Zille
• Publikationen:  Volksbegehren!, Weltbühne

Il venire meno del ruolo del partito quale fondamentale corpo intermedio ha causato da un lato il fenomeno dell’incrementarsi dell’astensionismo di marginalità, e dall’altro l’acuirsi dell’astensionismo di protesta, che va di pari passo con l’incremento del voto radicalizzato e antisistemico e delle forme di partecipazione non convenzionale. Su questa considerazione abbiamo provato a ricostruire l’idea di mediazione.

I provide an ethnographic account of how Costa Ricans realized a version of participatory ideals in the process of creating a decentralized network of ‘Patriotic Committees’ to contest the US-sponsored Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). This participation was a socially creative praxis played out in a context of ongoing contention over neoliberalization, a defiantly bottom-up politics that contrasts with much of the ‘participation’ that now circulates globally as a technology of governance. I also show, however, that reliance on negation as a principle of horizontal coordination frustrated the transition to a more proactive politics, inspiring protagonists of the movement to pursue continued innovation in participatory forms.