Merujuk pada kesimpulan-kesimpulan riset mengenai “Masalah dan Peluang Demokratisasi di Indonesia... more Merujuk pada kesimpulan-kesimpulan riset mengenai “Masalah dan Peluang Demokratisasi di Indonesia pasca-Orde Baru” (2003-2005), konferensi demokratisasi yang diadakan di Jakarta pada 24-26 November 2005 menegaskan adanya empat gejala pokok dalam proses demokrasi di Indonesia: (1) Defisit demokrasi; (2) Demokrasi oligarkis; (3) Representasi Semu; dan (4) Marjinalisasi kelompok pro-demokrasi. Keempat gejala itu mengemuka, kendati dalam beberapa hal terdapat juga sejumlah kemajuan, terutama menyangkut semakin terbukanya ruang-ruang baru bagi kebebasan sipil dan politik. Berdasarkan temuan-temuan itu, para peserta konferensi berhasil mengidentifikasi serangkaian jalan keluar dari proses demokrasi yang stagnan, serta merumuskan sejumlah agenda mendesak yang perlu dijalankan.
The recent Indonesian elections signalled relative stability in spite of the rise of contentious ... more The recent Indonesian elections signalled relative stability in spite of the rise of contentious politics. To explain this, the article first discusses the way the incumbent Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration has handled the rise of Muslim populism sponsored by his political opponents. This has included a reliance on illiberal measures, the political adjustment and "triangulation" of his policies, and a revival of Indonesia's socio-religious and ethnic politics. Second, the article provides a longer historical perspective to show how the failure to restore the liberal parliamentary politics of the 1950s, and the inability to sustain the popular reforms of the mid-2000s that brought Jokowi to power, constitute more fundamental explanations both for the undermining of Indonesia's democracy and for the provisional political stability.
The primary aim of the alternative assessments discussed in this book is to describe and explain ... more The primary aim of the alternative assessments discussed in this book is to describe and explain the state and dynamics of democratisation. However ideally, the assessments should also provide an important contribution to the wider discussion on the options of democratisation. This is for two reasons. First, because it is crucial to add uncompromising academic research and propositions to the public discourse on democracy. This discourse tends to be dominated by powerful domestic and foreign interests. Second, because the democracy activists and their supporters who contribute their knowledge and contacts to the assessments are usually eager to use the results in their deliberations on how to move forward and then it is a necessary to provide the best inputs. At best, the results and conclusions may thus serve as a point of departure for discussions on more unifying priorities and broader alliances.
Chapter 1. Development and Democracy 2 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Poor people, poor democracy? 3 1.3 ... more Chapter 1. Development and Democracy 2 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Poor people, poor democracy? 3 1.3 The logic of the essay 5 Chapter 2. The Mainstream Arguments 7 2.1 The background: important advances-and major setbacks 7 2.2 The conventional counter arguments 8 2.3 The conventional recipes 8 Chapter 3. Alternative Propositions 10 3.1 The historical importance of leftists and the poor (vs. bourgeois and middle classes) 10 3.2 The vital but superable problems of the Left 12 3.3 Resistance against dominating primitive accumulation of capital and opportunities for democratisation 13 3.4 Divisive uneven development calls for unifying resistance against common enemies 16 3.5 Capitalist expansion, left-authoritarianism, and human rights-based democracy 17 3.6 The primacy of politics and actors 19 3.7 Beyond the crafting of elitist democracy 20 3.8 Beyond elitist crafting of civil society democracy 23 3.9 A third way to democracy 28 Chapter 4. Analytical Framework 31 4.1 The level of substantial democracy 31 4.2 The competing propositions as reflected in the model 33 4.3 Enhancing citizen's democratic capacity through politics of democratisation 34 4.4 Reading the political opportunities 35 4.5 Politicisation 38 4.6 Disputed propositions as reflected in the framework of politics of democratisation 41 vi Popular Development and Democracy Part II: PHILIPPINE, INDONESIAN, AND KERALA CASES IN COMPARATIVE AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 45 Chapter 5. Cases, Design and Sources 46 Chapter 6. Operationalisations or Expected Contextual Outcomes 48 Chapter 7. Fresh Ideas but Uphill Tasks in Muddy Philippine Waters 51 7.1 A mainstream showcase 51 7.2 Shallow middle class democracy 52 7.3 A renewal-oriented Left 54 7.4 Collective empowerment and democracy 56 7.5 Divisive empowerment and insufficient democratisation 57 7.6 The logics of the stalled popular potential 63 Chapter 8. New but Poorly Anchored Democratic Options in Indonesia 67 8.1 From disaster to showcase? 67 8.2 Pacts without foundation 68 8.3 Unsubstantial crafting of democracy 70 8.4 The rise of a new radical democracy movement 75 8.5 Top-down catalysts enforce but bypass democracy 76 8.6 Grassroots activists foster but limit democratisation 80 8.7 Intermediary cause-oriented groups serve but do not anchor democracy 84 8.8 Dissident political leaders build and bend democracy 88 8.9 Problems and options for new labour organisers 90 8.10 The dynamics of the stumbling blocks 93 Chapter 9. Pioneering Attempts to Renew the Kerala Model 98 9.1 Politicised class-based engineering of democratic development 98 9.2 The old model undermined 100 9.3 Renewal from the Left 102 9.4 Impressive campaigns, insufficient base 102 9.5 Rethinking and counter-offensive 108 9.6 Bold new initiatives on more solid ground 109 9.7 Important advances 113 9.8 Two general problems 114 9.9 Four specific lessons 116 9.10 The dynamics of the lost historical opportunity 123 Part III: CONCLUSIONS-THE MISSING LINK 131 Chapter 10. Elitist Democratisation and new Popular Efforts 133 10.1 General Conclusions 133 10.2 Policy implications for elitist democratisation and beyond 136 Chapter 11. Problems of Popular Politics of Democratisation 137 11.1 General Conclusions 137 11.2 Policy implications for substantial democratisation 142 REFERENCES 145 Contents vii The Mainstream Arguments 9 7 Nor, of course, is the other dominant explanation for the economic crisis sufficient: that it is all because of neo-liberal regulations and the massive inflow of foreign high risk capital. For why was it that neo-liberalism became untenable in East and South East Asia, and especially in Indonesia, and only after some ten years or so? 8 Time Magazine, 15 July 1966, p.26. 9 The related thesis about the importance of the working class as a result of the expansion of capitalism, however, is not affected to the same extent and remains to be studied in conjunction with the associated theory (in section 2.2) that commerce and capitalism have made prices and labour more important than land and the rural poor. 10 Where not other works are cited in subsections 3.2-3.5, I am drawing on these references. 11 What follows is, of course, only with regard to the theories made use of by the political Left that I focused on. Moreover, I'm not saying that the neglected factors that I have identified were the only ones 'missing'-but they proved to be the most important in the countries and during the periods that I studied.
The emerging crisis of both elitist and popular strategies of democratization calls for assessmen... more The emerging crisis of both elitist and popular strategies of democratization calls for assessments of the problems and options in such a way that different arguments may be put to the test while facilitating debate on improved agendas. This article first discusses the development of a framework for such assessments in the context of the most populous of the ‘third
The third intrinsic dimension of democratisation to be considered in the alternative assessment i... more The third intrinsic dimension of democratisation to be considered in the alternative assessment is the actors’ political capacity, primarily their capacity to alter the opportunity structure. This is, of course, another way of saying that power is important for what actors can do and how institutions are shaped and perform. The structure of power and opportunities for people to act are crucial in any explanation of democracy. But to really consider the problems and options of democratisation, one must also focus on the actors’ capacity to alter these opportunities in their own favour. In short, this is about their capacity to at least in part create their own preconditions.
The viability of the thesis that liberalization and democracy foster peace, security and developm... more The viability of the thesis that liberalization and democracy foster peace, security and development is at stake. The main critique is that more liberties and elections lead to more conflict and abuses of power. There are three principal responses to this critique. The liberal argument calls for improving the democratic institutions; the institutions first thesis prioritizes strengthening the rule of law and state capacity over democracy; whilst the transformation argument proposes using fledgling democracy to foster gradually more favourable relations of power and popular capacity towards more substantial democracy. This article analyses the relevance of these theses to the remarkable dynamics of peace-building in Aceh, from the introduction of Indonesian democracy in 1998, the impact of the tsunami in 2004 and the Helsinki peace agreement in 2005 to the general elections in 2009. The study concludes that the liberal argument is congruous with the democratic opportunities for peace, while the institutions first and the transformation arguments give prominence to the dynamics that made peace-building possible but also difficult. While the institutions first argument responds to these difficulties by resorting to power sharing, the transformation thesis proposes more citizen participation coupled with interest and issue group representation.
Page 1. 377 Labour and Democracy? Reflections on the Indonesian Impasse I Olle Trrnquist* Convent... more Page 1. 377 Labour and Democracy? Reflections on the Indonesian Impasse I Olle Trrnquist* Conventional theories about the emergence of democracy have not proven particularly helpful in the case of Indonesia. For example ...
It is no longer what it used to be, the discourse and practices of democratization. For a long ti... more It is no longer what it used to be, the discourse and practices of democratization. For a long time, democratization in the third world was regarded as diYcult, and resting with a whole series of conditions that had to be achieved through rather long-term structural change and hard political work. The major thesis was that of liberal as well as Marxist modernization theory, which stressed the lack of social, economic and political prerequisites. In East and Southeast Asia, modernization, institution building, and the rise of suYciently strong middle classes were the celebrated perspectives among adherents as well as liberal critics of the developmental states. 1 Others added the conservative and elitist character of the processes that had started anyway, or pointed to the predominance of so-called illiberal democracy. 2 The major rival dependency thesis, moreover, was even more pessimistic, stressing economic globalization as a major threat against democracy. 3 Since the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, however, the idealist idea of democratization as something natural and almost inevitable has attained worldwide adherence. Actually, it began with the defeat of fascism in southern Europe in the 1970s and the defeat of authoritarian regimes in Latin America in the 1980s. Post 1989, the thesis was quickly exported to Eastern Europe as well, and, most remarkably to Africa, as the soft backpack of structural adjustment schemes. East and Southeast Asia, however, seemed rather immune to democratization, aside from some NGO activists. Just as elsewhere, it took economic and political crises, and those crises remained local until 1997. By now, however, the post Cold War truth on 'democratization' has settled here as well, and it is time for a contextually based critique. The scholarly backup for this trend was celebrated studies of democratization in southern Europe and Latin America, which then spread to Africa and Eastern Europe. 4 This was the proposition (quite against previous thinking) that it was possible, after all, to craft instant democracies almost no matter what the given conditions. One could compensate unfavourable internal structures with external support for the introduction of elementary human rights, 'free and fair' elections, and 'good' institutions. For some time now, supplementary studies have emerged on the diYculties
Merujuk pada kesimpulan-kesimpulan riset mengenai “Masalah dan Peluang Demokratisasi di Indonesia... more Merujuk pada kesimpulan-kesimpulan riset mengenai “Masalah dan Peluang Demokratisasi di Indonesia pasca-Orde Baru” (2003-2005), konferensi demokratisasi yang diadakan di Jakarta pada 24-26 November 2005 menegaskan adanya empat gejala pokok dalam proses demokrasi di Indonesia: (1) Defisit demokrasi; (2) Demokrasi oligarkis; (3) Representasi Semu; dan (4) Marjinalisasi kelompok pro-demokrasi. Keempat gejala itu mengemuka, kendati dalam beberapa hal terdapat juga sejumlah kemajuan, terutama menyangkut semakin terbukanya ruang-ruang baru bagi kebebasan sipil dan politik. Berdasarkan temuan-temuan itu, para peserta konferensi berhasil mengidentifikasi serangkaian jalan keluar dari proses demokrasi yang stagnan, serta merumuskan sejumlah agenda mendesak yang perlu dijalankan.
The recent Indonesian elections signalled relative stability in spite of the rise of contentious ... more The recent Indonesian elections signalled relative stability in spite of the rise of contentious politics. To explain this, the article first discusses the way the incumbent Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration has handled the rise of Muslim populism sponsored by his political opponents. This has included a reliance on illiberal measures, the political adjustment and "triangulation" of his policies, and a revival of Indonesia's socio-religious and ethnic politics. Second, the article provides a longer historical perspective to show how the failure to restore the liberal parliamentary politics of the 1950s, and the inability to sustain the popular reforms of the mid-2000s that brought Jokowi to power, constitute more fundamental explanations both for the undermining of Indonesia's democracy and for the provisional political stability.
The primary aim of the alternative assessments discussed in this book is to describe and explain ... more The primary aim of the alternative assessments discussed in this book is to describe and explain the state and dynamics of democratisation. However ideally, the assessments should also provide an important contribution to the wider discussion on the options of democratisation. This is for two reasons. First, because it is crucial to add uncompromising academic research and propositions to the public discourse on democracy. This discourse tends to be dominated by powerful domestic and foreign interests. Second, because the democracy activists and their supporters who contribute their knowledge and contacts to the assessments are usually eager to use the results in their deliberations on how to move forward and then it is a necessary to provide the best inputs. At best, the results and conclusions may thus serve as a point of departure for discussions on more unifying priorities and broader alliances.
Chapter 1. Development and Democracy 2 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Poor people, poor democracy? 3 1.3 ... more Chapter 1. Development and Democracy 2 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Poor people, poor democracy? 3 1.3 The logic of the essay 5 Chapter 2. The Mainstream Arguments 7 2.1 The background: important advances-and major setbacks 7 2.2 The conventional counter arguments 8 2.3 The conventional recipes 8 Chapter 3. Alternative Propositions 10 3.1 The historical importance of leftists and the poor (vs. bourgeois and middle classes) 10 3.2 The vital but superable problems of the Left 12 3.3 Resistance against dominating primitive accumulation of capital and opportunities for democratisation 13 3.4 Divisive uneven development calls for unifying resistance against common enemies 16 3.5 Capitalist expansion, left-authoritarianism, and human rights-based democracy 17 3.6 The primacy of politics and actors 19 3.7 Beyond the crafting of elitist democracy 20 3.8 Beyond elitist crafting of civil society democracy 23 3.9 A third way to democracy 28 Chapter 4. Analytical Framework 31 4.1 The level of substantial democracy 31 4.2 The competing propositions as reflected in the model 33 4.3 Enhancing citizen's democratic capacity through politics of democratisation 34 4.4 Reading the political opportunities 35 4.5 Politicisation 38 4.6 Disputed propositions as reflected in the framework of politics of democratisation 41 vi Popular Development and Democracy Part II: PHILIPPINE, INDONESIAN, AND KERALA CASES IN COMPARATIVE AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 45 Chapter 5. Cases, Design and Sources 46 Chapter 6. Operationalisations or Expected Contextual Outcomes 48 Chapter 7. Fresh Ideas but Uphill Tasks in Muddy Philippine Waters 51 7.1 A mainstream showcase 51 7.2 Shallow middle class democracy 52 7.3 A renewal-oriented Left 54 7.4 Collective empowerment and democracy 56 7.5 Divisive empowerment and insufficient democratisation 57 7.6 The logics of the stalled popular potential 63 Chapter 8. New but Poorly Anchored Democratic Options in Indonesia 67 8.1 From disaster to showcase? 67 8.2 Pacts without foundation 68 8.3 Unsubstantial crafting of democracy 70 8.4 The rise of a new radical democracy movement 75 8.5 Top-down catalysts enforce but bypass democracy 76 8.6 Grassroots activists foster but limit democratisation 80 8.7 Intermediary cause-oriented groups serve but do not anchor democracy 84 8.8 Dissident political leaders build and bend democracy 88 8.9 Problems and options for new labour organisers 90 8.10 The dynamics of the stumbling blocks 93 Chapter 9. Pioneering Attempts to Renew the Kerala Model 98 9.1 Politicised class-based engineering of democratic development 98 9.2 The old model undermined 100 9.3 Renewal from the Left 102 9.4 Impressive campaigns, insufficient base 102 9.5 Rethinking and counter-offensive 108 9.6 Bold new initiatives on more solid ground 109 9.7 Important advances 113 9.8 Two general problems 114 9.9 Four specific lessons 116 9.10 The dynamics of the lost historical opportunity 123 Part III: CONCLUSIONS-THE MISSING LINK 131 Chapter 10. Elitist Democratisation and new Popular Efforts 133 10.1 General Conclusions 133 10.2 Policy implications for elitist democratisation and beyond 136 Chapter 11. Problems of Popular Politics of Democratisation 137 11.1 General Conclusions 137 11.2 Policy implications for substantial democratisation 142 REFERENCES 145 Contents vii The Mainstream Arguments 9 7 Nor, of course, is the other dominant explanation for the economic crisis sufficient: that it is all because of neo-liberal regulations and the massive inflow of foreign high risk capital. For why was it that neo-liberalism became untenable in East and South East Asia, and especially in Indonesia, and only after some ten years or so? 8 Time Magazine, 15 July 1966, p.26. 9 The related thesis about the importance of the working class as a result of the expansion of capitalism, however, is not affected to the same extent and remains to be studied in conjunction with the associated theory (in section 2.2) that commerce and capitalism have made prices and labour more important than land and the rural poor. 10 Where not other works are cited in subsections 3.2-3.5, I am drawing on these references. 11 What follows is, of course, only with regard to the theories made use of by the political Left that I focused on. Moreover, I'm not saying that the neglected factors that I have identified were the only ones 'missing'-but they proved to be the most important in the countries and during the periods that I studied.
The emerging crisis of both elitist and popular strategies of democratization calls for assessmen... more The emerging crisis of both elitist and popular strategies of democratization calls for assessments of the problems and options in such a way that different arguments may be put to the test while facilitating debate on improved agendas. This article first discusses the development of a framework for such assessments in the context of the most populous of the ‘third
The third intrinsic dimension of democratisation to be considered in the alternative assessment i... more The third intrinsic dimension of democratisation to be considered in the alternative assessment is the actors’ political capacity, primarily their capacity to alter the opportunity structure. This is, of course, another way of saying that power is important for what actors can do and how institutions are shaped and perform. The structure of power and opportunities for people to act are crucial in any explanation of democracy. But to really consider the problems and options of democratisation, one must also focus on the actors’ capacity to alter these opportunities in their own favour. In short, this is about their capacity to at least in part create their own preconditions.
The viability of the thesis that liberalization and democracy foster peace, security and developm... more The viability of the thesis that liberalization and democracy foster peace, security and development is at stake. The main critique is that more liberties and elections lead to more conflict and abuses of power. There are three principal responses to this critique. The liberal argument calls for improving the democratic institutions; the institutions first thesis prioritizes strengthening the rule of law and state capacity over democracy; whilst the transformation argument proposes using fledgling democracy to foster gradually more favourable relations of power and popular capacity towards more substantial democracy. This article analyses the relevance of these theses to the remarkable dynamics of peace-building in Aceh, from the introduction of Indonesian democracy in 1998, the impact of the tsunami in 2004 and the Helsinki peace agreement in 2005 to the general elections in 2009. The study concludes that the liberal argument is congruous with the democratic opportunities for peace, while the institutions first and the transformation arguments give prominence to the dynamics that made peace-building possible but also difficult. While the institutions first argument responds to these difficulties by resorting to power sharing, the transformation thesis proposes more citizen participation coupled with interest and issue group representation.
Page 1. 377 Labour and Democracy? Reflections on the Indonesian Impasse I Olle Trrnquist* Convent... more Page 1. 377 Labour and Democracy? Reflections on the Indonesian Impasse I Olle Trrnquist* Conventional theories about the emergence of democracy have not proven particularly helpful in the case of Indonesia. For example ...
It is no longer what it used to be, the discourse and practices of democratization. For a long ti... more It is no longer what it used to be, the discourse and practices of democratization. For a long time, democratization in the third world was regarded as diYcult, and resting with a whole series of conditions that had to be achieved through rather long-term structural change and hard political work. The major thesis was that of liberal as well as Marxist modernization theory, which stressed the lack of social, economic and political prerequisites. In East and Southeast Asia, modernization, institution building, and the rise of suYciently strong middle classes were the celebrated perspectives among adherents as well as liberal critics of the developmental states. 1 Others added the conservative and elitist character of the processes that had started anyway, or pointed to the predominance of so-called illiberal democracy. 2 The major rival dependency thesis, moreover, was even more pessimistic, stressing economic globalization as a major threat against democracy. 3 Since the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, however, the idealist idea of democratization as something natural and almost inevitable has attained worldwide adherence. Actually, it began with the defeat of fascism in southern Europe in the 1970s and the defeat of authoritarian regimes in Latin America in the 1980s. Post 1989, the thesis was quickly exported to Eastern Europe as well, and, most remarkably to Africa, as the soft backpack of structural adjustment schemes. East and Southeast Asia, however, seemed rather immune to democratization, aside from some NGO activists. Just as elsewhere, it took economic and political crises, and those crises remained local until 1997. By now, however, the post Cold War truth on 'democratization' has settled here as well, and it is time for a contextually based critique. The scholarly backup for this trend was celebrated studies of democratization in southern Europe and Latin America, which then spread to Africa and Eastern Europe. 4 This was the proposition (quite against previous thinking) that it was possible, after all, to craft instant democracies almost no matter what the given conditions. One could compensate unfavourable internal structures with external support for the introduction of elementary human rights, 'free and fair' elections, and 'good' institutions. For some time now, supplementary studies have emerged on the diYculties
Stokke, K., Törnquist, O. and Arnesen, V. (eds.) (2018). Power, Welfare and Democracy. Lessons from Indonesia in Comparative Perspectives, especially Myanmar and Scandinavia. Conference report, Department of Sociology and Human Geography and Department of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Stokke, K., Törnquist, O. and Sindre, G. M. (2009). Conflict Resolution and Democratisation in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami: A Comparative Analysis of Aceh and Sri Lanka. PCD Journal 1(1-2): 129-149.
Webster, N., Stokke, K. and Törnquist, O. (2009). Democratic Institutionalisation of Nodes for Improved Popular Representation. In. O. Törnquist, N. Webster and K. Stokke (Eds.) Rethinking Popular Representation. Houndmills: Palgrave.
Democratisation and democratic institutionalisation are not peaceful processes. The heterogeneity... more Democratisation and democratic institutionalisation are not peaceful processes. The heterogeneity of the demos, the inequalities that are present, and the divisions emanating from practices of exclusion all serve to ensure that conflict and struggle are intrinsic to democratic transition as demands for participation and representation are formulated , articulated, and opposed. In the introductory chapter, Törnquist made a theoretical argument about the stagnation of democracy in post-colonial states, emphasising the depoliticisation of public affairs and the problems of flawed representation. This is also the most apparent message to emerge from the case studies in this book. They also carry many separate messages and lessons to be learned, practices to be considered. Rather than seek to summarise these lessons and experiences in this concluding chapter, we wish instead to build on them by asking what role can policy play and what role can those who advise, formulate, and implement policy play with regard to popular representative democracy? Our proposition is that the right policies can facilitate a particular direction in development in that they can shape a more enabling environment for popular representation and they can moderate the level and form of conflict that characterises such change. The same proposition has as its antithesis that the wrong policies or the right policies wrongly implemented can have undemocratic outcomes as in strengthening the authorisation of the representative while reducing her accountability.
Harriss, J., Stokke, K. and Törnquist, O. (2004). Introduction: The New Local Politics of Democratization. In: J. Harriss, K. Stokke and O. Törnquist (Eds.). Politicising Democracy: The New Local Politics of Democratisation. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Törnquist, O., Webster, N. and Stokke, K. (Eds.). Rethinking Popular Representation. Houndmills: Palgrave-Macmillan. , 2009
This collection of essays originates in an international network of scholars with shared interest... more This collection of essays originates in an international network of scholars with shared interests in democratisation in the Global South. "Rethinking Popular Representation" follows from an earlier collection of essays on "Politicising Democracy: The New Local Politics of Democratisation", which was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2004. That book pointed to a new local politics of democratisation in developing countries, following from structural changes, institutional reforms, and popular mobilisations that generate and transform democracy through local political spaces and actors. Yet it also questioned the manner and extent to which transitions to liberal democracy, decentralisation, and participation really construct more substantial democracy.
Rethinking Popular Representation starts out from the deep concern with depoliticisation of public issues and popular interests that was developed in Politicising Democracy. It is argued that the root cause is flawed representation, due to both elitist institution building and fragmented citizen participation. Hence, we make a case for the need to rethink more democratic popular representation. Towards this end, an overarching analytical framework is developed in the introduction. This is followed by ten chapters examining key theoretical issues and empirical experiences of popular representation and a policy-oriented conclusion.
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Papers by Olle Törnquist
Rethinking Popular Representation starts out from the deep concern with depoliticisation of public issues and popular interests that was developed in Politicising Democracy. It is argued that the root cause is flawed representation, due to both elitist institution building and fragmented citizen participation. Hence, we make a case for the need to rethink more democratic popular representation. Towards this end, an overarching analytical framework is developed in the introduction. This is followed by ten chapters examining key theoretical issues and empirical experiences of popular representation and a policy-oriented conclusion.