The New Urban Left: Parties Without Actors

Abstract

One of the hallmarks of late political modernity may be that grassroots groups and urban social movements are fixed in increasingly distal relations with left of center parties. We examine the history of these relations in the city of Montreal, where there has been an historic progression from left parties, with significant constituencies, to parties without local actors. The 1994 municipal election in Montreal is reviewed in this light. Our findings indicate, however, that urban movements have developed a 'transfunctionality'. This places them in a conflict-laden stance to urban social policy, by signaling that which has been excluded from that relationship, through the arbitrariness of the service function they have taken on. These transformations have ushered them away from protest activities and towards a politics of everyday life (needs satisfactions, well-being), increasing their base constituencies, while lowering their ideological and rhetorical positions. Grassroots groups are bringing an unaccustomed political diversity into the discourse of the traditional and new urban left. These are not programmatic rehearsals, in search of a reworked or revised totality, but rather represent strategically placed claims to appropriate greater political, social and cultural spaces around issues of mutuality, self-help and effective local power Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1998.

Reconceptualizing Resistance: Residuals of the State and Democratic Radical Pluralism

“…Some scholars have questioned whether the institutionalization of community organizing and capacity building has undercut the possibilities for resistance, co‐opting groups that initially sought to challenge hegemonies but which have become reliant on steady funding streams, professional staff, and institutional ties to various state and corporate entities (Lake and Newman 2002; Lustiger‐Thaler and Shragge 1998; Martin 2004; Stoecker 1997). In contrast, institutions such as SMOC go about their business despite their imbrication in broader systems of governance.…”

Beyond Cooptation or Resistance: Urban Spatial Politics, Community Organizations, and GIS-Based Spatial Narratives

“…Some researchers argue that this devolution of responsibilities has not been accompanied by sufficient resources nor any actual power to shape agendas for urban planning and decision making. From this perspective, institutional politics is understood as a means by which community organizations are incorporated into state agendas (Lustiger-Thaler and Shragge 1998;Raco 2000;Peck 2001). In contrast, other researchers have provided examples of ways that community organizations have used these restructured institutional politics to insert their priorities and knowledge into local decision making.…”

Gis and Spatial Knowledge Production for Neighborhood Revitalization: Negotiating State Priorities and Neighborhood Visions

“…Neighborhood organizations have been given increased responsibilities and powers at the neighborhood scale and are seen as an inexpensive and flexible alternative to the public service system—consistent with the neoliberal ideal of a leaner state. According to Lustiger‐Thaler and Shragge (1998), community groups are increasingly being recognized as an adjunct to the social service system of the state.…”

“…In line with the neoliberal creed of the benefits of competition, organizations must engage in an often time-consuming competitive bidding process for scarce state and private foundation funding. According to some scholars this has created an obstacle or disincentive for collaboration among community organizations (Lustiger-Thaler & Shragge, 1998). Furthermore, the provision of financial resources allows funding agencies to regulate organizational arrangements as well as to influence the agenda of neighborhood organizations (North, 2000).…”