This study examines people's involvement in politics. Seven social anthropologists explore large-scale and complex political processes through the prism of detailed fieldwork. Research in localities in India, Cuba, Ethiopia, Taiwan and Lebanon is used to develop a broader understanding of global political phenomena such as democracy, representation and accountability. The contributors to the book stress the political dimension of everyday life and avoid consigning political practise or context such as a political party. To contextualise aspects of good' governance the articles in the volume deal with people's perceptions of and interactions with the state; how they interpret government laws and regulations; how they interact with officials and how they comment on acts and speeches made by local bureaucrats and national power holders. Through a discussion of the much debated distinction between private and public, the articles show how the notions of public and private are interconnected in many ways, how they are contested and reformulated by people based on their experiences, and how they can be used as a tool in questioning dominant ideas and ways of executing good' governance. The articles in the book focus on three particular approaches: 1. That ordinary people must be recognised as political actors but that their actions are structured by the specific histories and contexts within which they live. 2. That micro events are integral parts of macro phenomena and vice versa, and that they are usually designated by
asymmetrical relationships. 3.
That human life is the result
of innumerable interactions engendering change, but that even continuity is actively created. This book is important for researchers and students in anthropology, political science, history, sociology and development studies who have a theoretical as well as ethnographic interest in comparative politics.
Edited by:
Eva Poluha,
Mona Rosendahl
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 690g
ISBN: 9780700714940
ISBN 10: 0700714944
Pages: 284
Publication Date: 28 February 2002
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Primary
,
A / AS level
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: People, Power and Public Spaces 2. From Avoidance to Alliance: Hunter-Gatherers, Non-Governmental Organisations and State Relation in Tamil Nadu, South India 3. Sounds of Silence: Uncertainty, Language and Politics in the Cuban Economic Crisis 4. Learning Political Behaviour: Peasant-State Relations in Ethiopia 5. In Touch with Politics: Three Individuals in the Midst of the Dalit Movement 6. The Republic of China at a Crossroads? Processes of Democracy and Ethnic Identity on the Island of Taiwan 7. The Illicit Daughter: Hindi-Language Newspapers and the Regionalisation of the Public Sphere in India 8. Public Space Inside Out: Beirut's Private and Public Spaces Under Reconstruction Index
Eva Poluha is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University and has spent over 30 years researching peasant-state relations, democracy, gender, ethnicity and political change in Europe. Mona Rosendahl is Associate Professor affiliated to the Department of Social Anthropology and the Institute of Latin American Studies, Stockholm University.
Reviews for Contesting 'Good' Governance: Crosscultural Perspectives on Representation, Accountability and Public Space
'Contesting 'good' Governance is an interesting collection of papers exploring local concepts of political process that is misdirected as a critique of notions of governance in current debates in international development.' - Social Anthropology 'The volume will be of interest to political anthropologists concerned with issues of the public sphere, governance, democracy, and so on. It should also be useful for teaching, since most of the chapters are written in an accessible style and include useful summaries of various debates in political anthropology.' - The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
