The power of representation: Democratic politics and global governance

Review of International Studies

Volumn 29, Issue SPEC. ISS., 2003, Pages 97-118

  Colás, Alejandro ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 12144286047     PISSN: 02602105     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0260210503005916     Document Type: Review

References (53)

1. Here, the argument resembles that presented by Rob Walker in his various works on the spatiotemporal sources of modern sovereignty. Such modern 'resolutions' of the tensions between space and time, however, are ascribed in this essay to concrete sociopolitical struggles over the nature of authority, including, but not limited to, discursive conceptions of sovereignty.
2. 'The free market, if it is to work, requires a bundle of institutional arrangements and rules that can be guaranteed only by something akin to state power'. D. Harvey, Spaces of Hope (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), p. 178.
3. G. Eley, Forging Democracy: The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
4. H.F. Pitkin, The Concept of Representation (Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1967), p. 244.
5. D. Zolo, Democracy and Complexity: A Realist Approach (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992), p. 78.
6. B. Manin, The Principles of Representative Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 163.
7. I. M. Young, Democracy and Inclusion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
8. Harvey, Spaces of Hope, p. 160.
9. With apologies to Marx.
10. A. Negri, The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics (Minneapolis, MN and Oxford: University of Minnesota Press, 1991), M. Hardt and A. Negri, Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), and J. Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today (London and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2002). See also John Holloway, 'Global Capital and the National State' in W. Bonefeld and J. Holloway (eds.), Global Capital, National State and the Politics of Money (Basingtoke: Macmillan/St Martin's Press, 1995), pp. 116-40.
11. A. Negri, The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics (Minneapolis, MN and Oxford: University of Minnesota Press, 1991), M. Hardt and A. Negri, Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), and J. Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today (London and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2002). See also John Holloway, 'Global Capital and the National State' in W. Bonefeld and J. Holloway (eds.), Global Capital, National State and the Politics of Money (Basingtoke: Macmillan/St Martin's Press, 1995), pp. 116-40.
12. A. Negri, The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics (Minneapolis, MN and Oxford: University of Minnesota Press, 1991), M. Hardt and A. Negri, Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), and J. Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today (London and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2002). See also John Holloway, 'Global Capital and the National State' in W. Bonefeld and J. Holloway (eds.), Global Capital, National State and the Politics of Money (Basingtoke: Macmillan/St Martin's Press, 1995), pp. 116-40.
13. A. Negri, The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics (Minneapolis, MN and Oxford: University of Minnesota Press, 1991), M. Hardt and A. Negri, Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), and J. Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today (London and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2002). See also John Holloway, 'Global Capital and the National State' in W. Bonefeld and J. Holloway (eds.), Global Capital, National State and the Politics of Money (Basingtoke: Macmillan/St Martin's Press, 1995), pp. 116-40.
14. For a good overview of Antonio Negri's conception of power and politics see Jason Read, 'The Antagonistic Ground of Constitutive Power: An Essay on the Thought of Antonio Negri', Rethinking Marxism, 11:2 (Summer 1999), pp. 1-17.
15. Holloway, Change the World, p. 213.
16. Ibid., p. 31.
17. Ibid., p. 29.
18. Ibid., p. 36.
19. Negri, The Savage Anomaly p. 20
20. Ibid, Translator's Preface, p. xiii.
21. Hardt and Negri, Empire, p. 237.
22. Holloway, Change the World, p. 21.
23. Hardt and Negri, Empire, p. 103.
24. Ibid, pp. 296-7.
25. Laura Raynolds 'Restructuring National Agriculture, Agro-Food Trade, and Agrarian Livelihoods in the Caribbean', in D. Goodman and M.J. Watts (eds.), Globalising Food: Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 119-132, at 129; Jenny B. White Money Makes Us Relatives: Women's Labor in Urban Turkey (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1994), p. 108.
26. Laura Raynolds 'Restructuring National Agriculture, Agro-Food Trade, and Agrarian Livelihoods in the Caribbean', in D. Goodman and M.J. Watts (eds.), Globalising Food: Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 119-132, at 129; Jenny B. White Money Makes Us Relatives: Women's Labor in Urban Turkey (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1994), p. 108.
27. For an up-to-date analysis of how these particularities play themselves out in one of the more dynamic societies in the peninsula, see M.-A. Tétreault, Stories of Democracy: Politics and Society in Contemporary Kuwait (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2000). For a consideration of the 'invention' and subsequent persistence of dynastic monarchies in that region, see J. Kostiner (ed.), Middle East Monarchies: the Challenge of Modernity (Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Rienner, 2000).
28. For an up-to-date analysis of how these particularities play themselves out in one of the more dynamic societies in the peninsula, see M.-A. Tétreault, Stories of Democracy: Politics and Society in Contemporary Kuwait (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2000). For a consideration of the 'invention' and subsequent persistence of dynastic monarchies in that region, see J. Kostiner (ed.), Middle East Monarchies: the Challenge of Modernity (Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Rienner, 2000).
29. Porto Alegre, the flagship city for PB, derived 52 per cent of its annual revenue from local sources (taxation and tariffs) and 48 per cent from State or Federal transfers. See Boaventura de Sousa Santos, 'Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre: Toward a Redistributive Democracy', Politics and Society, 26:4 (December 1998), pp. 461-510, fn. 13.
30. Sérgio Baierle, 'The Porto Alegre Thermidor?: Brazil's "Participatory Budget" at the Crossroads', Social Register, 2002 (London: Merlin Press, 2002).
31. For Porto Alegre, this would amount to over 100,000 participants. See de Sousa Santos, p. 486.
32. See Baierle, p. 307 and for previous years, de Sousa Santos, pp. 485-91.
33. As Atilio Borón reminds us, 'Despite the allegations of the neoliberal zealots, the tax burden (measured as percent of the GDP and excluding social security contributions) of the more developed countries of Latin America is around 17% while in the OECD countries the proportion is twice as much, averaging 37.7%', in 'State Decay and Democratic Decadence in Latin America', Socialist Register 1999 (London: Merlin Press, 1999), pp. 209-26, p. 218.
34. The 1990 tax reform in Port Alegre introduced a property tax which accounted for 18% of the municipality's revenue in the late 1990s, up from a mere 5.8% in 1990. According to de Sousa Santos, 'The tax reform, which was crucial to relaunch the popular administration [in 1990], had to be approved by the Câmara de Vereadores [city legislature]. Because the Popular Front did not have a majority in the Câmara, the PT (Worker's Party] and the executive promoted a massive mobilization of the popular classes to pressurise the legislators to approve the tax reform law.' 'Participatory Budgeting', p. 477.
35. Ibid., p. 285.
36. Rebecca Abers, 'From Clientelism to Cooperation: Local Government, Participatory Policy and Civic Organizing in Porto Alegre, Brazil', Politics and Society, 26:4 (December 1998), pp. 511-37, at p. 511.
37. William E. Connolly, 'Democracy and Territoriality', Millennium, 20:3 (1991), pp. 463-84.
38. Michael Hardt, 'Today's Bandung?', New Left Review, 14 (New Series), March/April 2002, pp. 112-18, at p. 114.
39. Ian Shapiro and Casiano Hacker-Cordón, 'Outer Edges and Inner Edges', in I. Shapiro and C. Hacker-Cordón (eds.), Democracy's Edges (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 1-17, at p. 1.
40. See for instance, Boutros Boutros Ghali, Agenda for Demoralization (New York: UN Publications, 1996); H. Kovach, Caroline Neligan and Simon Burrall, Power Without Accountability: The Global Accountability Report (London: One World Trust, 2003).
41. See for instance, Boutros Boutros Ghali, Agenda for Demoralization (New York: UN Publications, 1996); H. Kovach, Caroline Neligan and Simon Burrall, Power Without Accountability: The Global Accountability Report (London: One World Trust, 2003).
42. James N. Rosenau, 'Governance and Democracy in a Globalizing World', in D. Archibugi, D. Held and M. Köhler, Re-Imagining Political Community: Studies in Cosmopolitan Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1998), p. 40.
43. Ibid., p. 47.
44. 'Quod omnes tangit, ab omnibus tractari et approbat debet ('What touches all should be considered and approved by all'). Manin suggests that the invocation of this Roman principle in medieval Europe '[d]id not imply that the consent of the governed was deemed the sole principal source of legitimacy ... Rather it meant that a wish from "above" had to meet with approval from "below" in order to become a fully legitimate directive that carried obligation. Nor did the principle entail any notion of choice among candidates by the people or proposals by the assembly. It was rather that the people were being asked to give their seal of approval to what the authorities... had proposed.' Manin, Principles, p. 88.
45. 'Quod omnes tangit, ab omnibus tractari et approbat debet ('What touches all should be considered and approved by all'). Manin suggests that the invocation of this Roman principle in medieval Europe '[d]id not imply that the consent of the governed was deemed the sole principal source of legitimacy ... Rather it meant that a wish from "above" had to meet with approval from "below" in order to become a fully legitimate directive that carried obligation. Nor did the principle entail any notion of choice among candidates by the people or proposals by the assembly. It was rather that the people were being asked to give their seal of approval to what the authorities... had proposed.' Manin, Principles, p. 88.
46. Representative texts include: D. Archibugi and D. Held (eds.), Cosmopolitan Democracy: An Agenda for a New World Order (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995); Archibugi et al. (eds.), Re-Imagining; and D. Held, Democracy and the Global Order From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance (Cambridge: Polity, 1995).
47. Representative texts include: D. Archibugi and D. Held (eds.), Cosmopolitan Democracy: An Agenda for a New World Order (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995); Archibugi et al. (eds.), Re-Imagining; and D. Held, Democracy and the Global Order From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance (Cambridge: Polity, 1995).
48. Representative texts include: D. Archibugi and D. Held (eds.), Cosmopolitan Democracy: An Agenda for a New World Order (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995); Archibugi et al. (eds.), Re-Imagining; and D. Held, Democracy and the Global Order From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance (Cambridge: Polity, 1995).
49. '[t]he asymmetrical production and distribution of life-chances which limit and erode the possibilities of political participation', Democracy and Global Order, p. 171.
50. For a similar critique of Held's programme for global socioeconomic reform, see Tony Smith, 'Globalisation and Capitalist Property Relations: A Critical Assessment of Held's Cosmopolitan Theory', Historical Materialism, 11:2 (2003), pp. 3-35.
51. David Held, 'Democracy and Globalization', in Archibugi, Re-Imagining, p. 88.
52. Hardt, 'Today's Bandung?', p. 117.
53. Ibid., p. 117.