Analyzing Politics Beyond the Center in an Age of Transformation

Bouziane, Malika; Harders, Cilja

doi:10.1057/9781137338693.0006

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…When in 2011 the Arab world's protests first erupted in the nations' peripheries, the blind spots of this central state bias became evident and stimulated research on politics from below (e.g. Hoffmann, Bouziane, and Harders 2013). A vivid regional and international debate on the significance of local politics and the respective actors came back to life, which helped initiate decentralisation reforms in several MENA countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decentralisation as authoritarian upgrading? Evidence from Jordan and Morocco

Vollmann

Bohn

Demmelhuber

2020

The Journal of North African Studies

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A vivid regional and international debate on the significance of local politics and the respective actors came back to life after the Arab uprisings in 2011, which initiated decentralisation reforms in several MENA countries. Decentralisation advocates expect the reforms to foster democratisation, local autonomy and the overall socioeconomic situation, but Middle Eastern regimes also engage in decentralisation reforms for the sake of their own durability. This article assesses the potential of decentralisation reforms to develop mechanisms that contribute to authoritarian upgrading. We systematically include subnational politics and dynamics, as they are essential for deepening our understanding of the potential for reforms to uphold non-democratic regimes. Decentralisation is a promising test case, as the delegation of power away from the centre towards subnational actors and institutions affects the regime's ability to control the polity. In our analysis, we focus on three salient aspects that influence the outcome of a decentralisation reform: (1) the legal outline of decentralisation, (2) its financial organisation as well as ( 3) the management of central, regional, and local elite networks. Subnational authoritarian upgrading via decentralisation reforms in Jordan and Morocco seem to focus on the satisfaction and containment of civil society as well as on the management and control of elites and oppositional actors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decentralisation as authoritarian upgrading? Evidence from Jordan and Morocco

Vollmann

Bohn

Demmelhuber

2020

The Journal of North African Studies

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“…The analysis of elites is an important branch in current political science study. In order to widen our understanding of politics "beyond the center" (Hoffmann, Bouziane, and Harders 2013) it is necessary to extend the focus beyond the state as the main actor and the central level as unit of analysis. Including elite perspectives at different levels of politics is one way to accomplish this necessary shift in research.…”

Section: Analyzing Subnational Dynamics Under Authoritarianism: Methodological Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

3. Doing Research on Subnational Levels of Autocracies: Field Work and Methodological Approach

Bohn¹,

Demmelhuber²,

Vollmann³

2021

Decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa

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Field research in non-democratic contexts is challenging. Even prior to the Arab uprisings the clustering of autocratic regimes in the MENA region held great obstacles regarding access to the field, access to data and archives, and identification of potential interview partners or participants for survey research. In most cases, research played out within legal "grey zones" in terms of official permissions to conduct research. International scholars were granted access to the field via tourist visas and fieldwork was conducted with the implicit toleration of the security apparatus. Even so, there is a tacit knowledge among the research community regarding the unvoiced but clearly defined "red lines" that limit the scope and possibilities of research and movement in the field.The Arab uprisings were more than a turning point for the social and political configuration of the region. The newly evolving political map impacts research on and in the region. The reasons for this are manifold, but three related aspects stand out: First, in times of popular upheavals narratives of alleged clandestine interventions by external actors lent cause to ruling regimes to identify actors from abroad purportedly responsible for instability and turmoil (also referred to as "the third hand", Wessel 2018). This led to a tremendous increase in suspicion toward foreign researchers, who are increasingly considered agents of external intelligence or other external parties. Second, the security apparatus in most MENA countries invested a lot in domestic surveillance techniques, both in offline and online, making it even more difficult to acquire the consent of potential interviewees. And third, in times of changing makeup of political power and not fully established top-down capacities, competing security/police branches may lead to diverging interpretations of what is allowed and lawful and what is not. Experiences of arbitrary arrests and misuse of power have been the consequence for many researchers in the MENA region. This fundamental change has led to a thriving literature in the field of how to do research in authoritarian contexts, which was long overdue (Glasius et al. 2018; Grimm et al. 2020). Based on these context factors, our research was driven by several methodological premises, benchmarks, and tools.

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“…Die Legitimität politischer Entscheidungen leiten sie von der Effektivität politischer Entscheidungen ab, berücksichtigen aber nicht, wie diese Entscheidungen zustande kommen (Demirović 2011;Sack/Burchardt 2008). Drittens analysiert die Debatte zwar den Einfluss nichtstaatlicher Akteure in nationalen oder internationalen Politikarenen, kann aber das Akteurshandeln auf lokaler Ebene kaum erklären (Hoffmann et al 2013;Olivier de Sardan 2011).…”

Section: Theoretische Verortung Und Forschungsdesignunclassified

“…Auch neomarxistische Perspektiven berücksichtigen kaum die Interaktionsprozesse zwischen der globalen und der lokalen Ebene. Weder findet die konkrete materiell beobachtbare Einflussnahme nichtstaatlicher Akteure auf lokale Politikprozesse Berücksichtigung noch die demokratie-und entwicklungspolitischen Auswirkungen ihres Handelns (Hoffmann et al 2013;Olivier de Sardan 2011). Um diese Lücken zu schließen, ist es gewinnbringend zu untersuchen, welche Rolle nichtstaatliche Akteure in der (öffentlichen) Leistungserbringung für lokale Politik spielen, inwiefern sie darüber Einfluss auf einzelne Politikbereiche nehmen und welche Konsequenzen dies für die inhaltliche Ausrichtung lokaler Politik hat.…”

Section: Dimensionen Der Einflussnahmeunclassified

“…Sie rücken den analytischen Fokus auf die lokale Ebene und untersuchen kontextgebunden den Einfluss, den staatliche und nichtstaatliche Akteure auf Politik nehmen. Dabei arbeiten sie heraus, welche Akteure welche (öffentlichen) Güter und Leistungen erzeugen und wie auf dieser Basis verschiedene Herrschaftsformen nebeneinander bestehen oder sich überlappen (Bierschenk/Olivier de Sardan 2014;Hoffmann et al 2013;Sharma/Gupta 2006a;Thelen et al 2018a).…”

Section: Inhaltliche Dimension Der Einflussnahmeunclassified

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Transnationaler Bergbau und lokale Politik

Bechtum

2021

Global Studies

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Bergbau, soziale Konflikte und Umweltkatastrophen - seit den 1990er Jahren erlebt Lateinamerika einen historischen Rohstoffboom. Welche Rolle spielen die Betreiber der Minen in den Abbauregionen? Wie schaffen sie Akzeptanz unter der lokalen Bevölkerung? Und welche politischen Auswirkungen zieht dies nach sich? Alexandra Bechtum analysiert das Handeln transnationaler Bergbauunternehmen in Argentinien und hinterfragt kritisch die sozial- und infrastrukturpolitischen Maßnahmen, die Bergbauunternehmen in den Abbauregionen industrieller Goldminen implementieren. Dabei stellt sie Fragen von Demokratie und Entwicklung in den Fokus.

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Analyzing Politics Beyond the Center in an Age of Transformation

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Decentralisation as authoritarian upgrading? Evidence from Jordan and Morocco

Decentralisation as authoritarian upgrading? Evidence from Jordan and Morocco

3. Doing Research on Subnational Levels of Autocracies: Field Work and Methodological Approach

Transnationaler Bergbau und lokale Politik

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