The continuum of passive revolution

“…The OS field lacks somewhat behind other social science fields where there are a number of empirical studies that discuss the role of the state in relation to the political-economic formations of non-Western contexts. For example, Arnold and Hess (2017) governmentalize Gramsci in Cambodia's garment industry to discuss the interaction between labour struggles and state responses; Abrahamsen (1997) provides a holistic analysis of democratization in Africa; and Morton (2010) situates passive revolutions in diverse varieties of non-western contexts, covering Latin American, East Europe, and East Asia. There is hence a need in OS to go beyond Western-centric, neo-Gramscian environmental governance research to include non-Western contexts, specifically understanding better the organization of hegemonic systems dominated by the state.…”

Section: The Neo-gramscian Approach In and Beyond Osmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizing the Environmental Governance of the Rare-Earth Industry: China’s passive revolution

Böhm

Reynolds

2018

Organization Studies

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The rare-earth industry is of strategic importance for China and many 'clean' technologies worldwide. Yet the processes of mining, smelting and separating rare-earth ores are heavily polluting. Using a neo-Gramscian perspective in the context of organization studies, this article analyzes the dynamic interactions between government agencies, business and civil society in the development of the environmental governance of China's rare-earth industry over the past 30 years, with a particular focus on China's 'top-down' passive revolution. Making use of rarely granted access to China's biggest rareearth company, one of the country's key strategic assets, the analysis makes visible the changes of environmental contestations amongst five different governance actors over what we identify as three environmental governance eras in China. Besides offering unique empirical insights into the organizational processes that constitute the dynamically evolving hegemony of China's rare-earth industry, the article makes three theoretical contributions to the field of organization studies. First, we analyze the changing role of state institutions in a non-Western context, which has been de-emphasized by existing organization scholars. Second, we conceptualize the dynamics of environmental governance in China as a form of top-down 'passive revolution'. Third, we problematize the dual role of Chinese NGOs as both supporting and challenging state power. Overall, we contribute to our understanding of the organization of governance systems in non-Western contexts, which has been neglected in organizational studies.

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“…Devolution was therefore an integral part of La ou s ide modernising strategy (Nairn, 1998) which attempted to transform both the party itself and the state apparatus (Jessop, 2003;Cerny & Evans, 2004), although yet again, the internal dynamics surrounding the planning of devolution were chaotic, and frequently contingent on the tenacity of the then secretary of state for Wales, Ron Davies. Blair himself had reservations about the necessity of Welsh devolution (Rawnsley, 2010 (Morton, 2010: 318), the introduction of moderate or molecular reforms in order to neutralise radical demands from below and to maintain the status quo in the face of crises (Sassoon, 1980: 134).…”

Section: Ed a Ds A Ds This Pe Iod As La Ou S Isis As The Party Becamementioning

confidence: 99%

Welsh devolution as passive revolution

Evans

2018

Capital & Class

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Welsh devolution has not been adequately theorised. Following the narrow vote for Welsh devolution in 1997, many academics in Wales adopted a nakedly ‘celebratory’, uncritical view of devolution as a radical change to the British state, taking at face value the claim that it was designed to rejuvenate Welsh democracy. The power relations inherent to the transformation of the British state are rarely discussed in Wales. As a consequence, the developments which have occurred in Wales since devolution – political disengagement, the rise of the far right, the vote for Brexit – seem hard to grasp: it is simply presumed that something has ‘gone wrong’ with the application of devolution. This dominant way of thinking assumes that devolution was designed to ‘work’. Using Gramsci’s concept of passive revolution, this article argues that devolution to Wales (and Scotland) was a central plank of New Labour’s transformation of both the Labour Party and the British state. Building on a reading of the post-war British state as a historic bloc, I draw attention to the power relations inherent in Welsh devolution and the ‘top down’ nature of the process, which was led by the Labour party in order to preserve its hegemony in Wales and the United Kingdom as a whole. After outlining the political struggles and strategies of transformismo which occurred within the process of passive revolution, where hegemony is temporarily ‘thinned’, I contend that contemporary Wales represents a period of interregnum, where the old world (the traditional centralised British state) has died, but a new Welsh state cannot be born. As Gramsci predicted, this has led to the emergence of a host of ‘morbid symptoms’ in Wales. I conclude by reflecting on the nature of the interregnum and whether ‘restoration’ or ‘revolution’ is likely to triumph in Wales.

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The continuum of passive revolution

Cited by 79 publications

References 42 publications

Putting the Chinese State in its Place: A March from Passive Revolution to Hegemony

Putting the Chinese State in its Place: A March from Passive Revolution to Hegemony

Organizing the Environmental Governance of the Rare-Earth Industry: China’s passive revolution

Welsh devolution as passive revolution

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