Laurence Edward Piper

Published: Nov 09, 2018 by Journal of Civil Society
Authors: Laurence Piper & Bettina von LIeres
Subjects: Sociology, Anthropology - Soc Sci

South Africans view formal participatory institutions as ineffective. Conversely, civil society has limited policy impact, and social movements are limited to the larger townships of the major cities. In this context, the tensions between communities, civil society and the state, are increasingly played out in extra-institutional arenas. Marginalised communities rely on informal political practices to access rights and services from the state, or even to keep the state at bay.

By: Laurence Edward Piper

Decolonisation after Democracy addresses the provocative idea that we need to rid higher education of lingering forms of colonial knowledge. This matters because in the colonial era much knowledge was put to the service of subjugating indigenous peoples, and the assumptions from this era may linger into the present. Examples of deep-rooted and ‘foundational’ forms of knowledge that carry colonial traits are normative binaries such as ‘civilised and backward’, ‘modern and traditional’ and ‘rational and superstitious’. In addition, some accounts of positive values like freedom, equality, justice and democracy may hide the assumption that the western experience is the norm, from which other kinds are rendered imitations, deviations or pathologies.

In this collection, some of South Africa’s leading political scientists and academics engage with the challenge of decolonising knowledge in the research and teaching of politics. It includes new insights about the state, international relations, clientelism, statesociety relations and land reform; and introduces new ways to engage the colonial library, curriculum reform, and the marginality of historically black institutions. Finally, the contributors deal with the decolonial challenge posed by the #FeesMustFall student movements, reflecting on issues of revolutionary politics and gender and sexual violence.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Politikon.

By: Laurence Edward Piper
Subjects: Anthropology - Soc Sci, Geography , Sociology, Sociology, Criminology and Criminal Justice

Our new book, Democracy Disconnected is now out in hardcover on the Routledge website.

Blurb

Why is dissatisfaction with local democracy endemic, despite the spread of new participatory
institutions? This book argues that a key reason is the limited power of elected local officials,
especially to produce the City. City Hall lacks control over key aspects of city decision- making,
especially under conditions of economic globalisation and rapid urbanisation in the urban South.
Demonstrated through case studies of daily politics in Hout Bay, Democracy Disconnected
shows how Cape Town residents engage local rule. In the absence of democratic control, urban rule
in the Global South becomes a complex and contingent framework of multiple and multilevel forms
of urban governance (FUG) that involve City Hall, but are not directed by it. Bureaucratic governance
coexists alongside market, developmental, and informal forms of governance. This disconnect of
democracy from urban governance segregates people spatially, socially, but also politically. Thus,
while the residents of Hout Bay may live next to each other, they do not live with each other.
This book will be a valuable resource for students on programmes such as Urban Studies,
Political Science, Sociology, Development Studies, and Political Geography.