Popular Politics, Participation and the Elite Gaze in South Africa

This book challenges assumptions prevalent among development experts that participatory forums and mechanisms enhance democracy in a highly unequal setting. These assumptions ignore the pernicious ways in which social and economic status and political standing differentiate citizenship. The book develops a counter-narrative from below, starting from the manifold ways in which people engage with the state in a South African township and the structures of power they encounter. By doing so, it reveals that political participation, as imagined in the Global North, is a privilege not only of individuals but also of societies, and (re-)discovers a profound epistemological gap between elite assumptions and the perspectives of the governed.

Product details

• Authors: Julia Plessing
• Publisher: Nomos
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.09.2023
• EAN: 9783756002337
• ISBN: 978-3-7560-0233-7
• No. of pages: 211
• Dimensions: 154 mm x 10 mm x 228 mm
• Weight: 319 g
• Series: Entwicklungstheorie und Entwicklungspolitik
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Comparative and international political science