Group items tagged

Transformations under way in Indian cities have begun to alter the opportunities for democratic participation among the urban poor. Highlighting efforts to promote globally oriented urban developments in Mumbai, this article examines the state's engagemen

Since colonial times, violent urban displacements have been part of politics in Africa. As 'Operation Sweep up the Rubbish', the massive slum demolition in Zimbabwe, illustrates, large-scale violent urban displacements persist in many parts of the contine

Is 'consociational democracy' a sustainable working model for deeply divided societies? Despite its relative success in Lebanon, rapid urbanization has presented serious challenges to the rigid confessional power-sharing arrangement. In the city of Beirut

Faced with formidable challenges to expression in Cairo's public spaces, urban blogger activists have developed new ways of articulating dissent, namely spatial tactics ranging from boycott campaigns, cyber-activism and protest art, to innovations in mobi

Civil war, sabotage from neighbouring states, and economic collapse characterised the first decade of Mozambican independence. During most of the civil war, the government was unable to exercise effective control outside of urban areas, many of which were

What role do moderate Islamic organizations play in promoting democratization in Malaysia and Indonesia? What is the difference between large, grassroots organizations and newer more urban-based non-governmental organization (NGOs)? Is one type of organiz

Moyano's story was movingly retold by Villa El Salvador Mayor Jaime Zea exactly 16 years later, at the World Conference on the Development of Cities held last week in Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil. http://www.aupeace.org/node/2914 Zea had tak

Jan Aart Scholte from the School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University, asked if the voices that the civil society groups emphasise so much did not just mean the urban, western-educated elites but included less articulate grass roots groups that remain

"In 2006, Bangkok's middle-class residents overwhelmingly supported the military coup that displaced the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra. Survey research shows that opponents of Thaksin had a stronger commitment to liberal democracy and possibly to royalist values while rural voters supported Thaksin because he fulfilled their social demands. Opposition to Thaksin was not motivated by economic interests, but rather, there is some evidence that urban middle- and upper-class voters disliked Thaksin because they heard negative reporting about him, which were less available in the countryside. These findings are compatible with a new theory of democratic consolidation, in which the upper classes have the means that would enable and encourage them to pay sufficient attention to politics to discover that what they viewed as 'good government' was violated by the ruling party, which could have led to demands for more democracy historically. More recently, however, in Thailand and perhaps other instances in Southeast Asia and Latin America, those with the money and leisure to follow politics closely have heard reports about the 'bad government' of populist, democratically elected leaders, and thus have turned against them."