People, Participation and Protest

IR # 202: Introduction to Political Geography

Dr. A.S.M. Ali Ashraf

Associate Professor
Department of International Relations
University of Dhaka
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

Email: aliashraf79@gmail.com
Lecture in Brief
 Why place doesn’t matter?
 Why place should matter?
 Scales of political action
 Space of engagement
 Place, community and political interests
 Local power and leadership
 Urban regime theory
 Levels of stability in a state
 Protests: Context, making, and consequences

2
 Readings

 Short, John R. (1993). People and the State. In

Introduction to Political Geography (London: Routledge),
Chapter 7, pp. 133-144.

 Jones, Martin, Rhys Jones and Michael Woods (2004).

Politics, Power and Place. In An Introduction to Political
Geography (London: Routledge), Chapter 6, pp. 99-114.

 Jones, Martin, Rhys Jones and Michael Woods (2004).

Contesting Place. In An Introduction to Political Geography
(London: Routledge), Chapter 7, pp. 115-134.

3
Why Place Doesn’t Matter?
 For political scientists ‘place’ does not matter as it does not
have any independent power. Instead, power is
concentrated either in the hand of state authority, media or
multinational corporations.

 Two critiques on the importance of ‘Place’:

 Marxist Critique:
 Marxist approach to urban politics defines cities as the
geographical entity produced and reproduced through
capitalism.
 Cities are also conceptualized as the site of capitalist
exploitation.

 Liberal Critique:
 Localities are increasingly homogenized by the processes of
globalization. 4

 The influence of globalization can be mediated by local factors.

Why Place Should Matter
 According to Massey (1994), Globalization has necessitated
reconceptualization of place.
 Reconceptualization of Place:
 The time-space compression has produced a power
geometry in which some people, some communities
and some localities are empowered and enjoy the
benefits of globalization while others are
disempowered.
 Massey defines place as a ‘meeting place’ of social
networks. In her opinion, place has to be understood
not around administrative or political boundaries but
through the connections that link one place to
another

5
Different Scales of Political Action
 Trade Union bargaining
 Bargain over pay and other benefits
 Grassroots activism
 Challenge to national policies
 Gender-based NGOs
 Movement for equality and empowerment

6
Space of Engagement
 Cox defines ‘space of engagement’ as the inter-dependent
relationship between local actors [such as people, firms,
state agencies, campaign groups etc] with other centers of
social power [such as local, regional, and central
governments, MNCs].

 Large diasporic groups often also emerge as a power center

demanding policy action or policy change. For instance, the
Irish communities in New York city voted to remove the
family crest of the English ruler Oliver Cromwell from its
coat of arms. They were motivated by Cromwell’s brutality
in the 17th century annexation of Ireland.

7
Place, Community and Political
Interests
 Communities:
 Communities provide a source of identity for
their members
 A sense of collective identity encourages
community members to vote for their co-
community people
 Communities are filters through which people
see the wider world
 Communities have their own internal power
structures, such as: leaders and conflicts

8
Local power and leadership

 Urban regime theory is interested to

know how and under what conditions do
different type of governing coalitions
emerge, consolidate and become
hegemonic or devolve and transform?

9
Urban Regime Theory: Case of
Atlanta, in Georgia state of USA
 Hunter’s study in Atlanta, GA

 Elite Group of forty individuals

 11-company directors
 7-bankers or financiers
 5-lawyers
 5-industrial managers
 4-senior government personnel
 2-labor union leaders
 1-dentist

10
 Characteristics of ‘Atlanta Elites’ in Hunter’s
Study (1953)
 Fairly homogenous in social background
 Mostly men
 All white [race]

 Hunter finds:
 “There are certain places in which they make decisions
and formulate policies to meet the many changing
conditions that comfort them.
 Hunter defines them as a ‘core group’ of power leaders

11
 Stone defines Hunter’s policy elites as ‘governing
coalition’
 Governing coalition does not rule in command
and control fashion, but rather is concerned with
the coordination and mobilization of resources.
 There are a few private operating space for the
governing coalition:
 Driving club
 City Club
 Commerce club

12
Levels of Stability in a State
Type of State Example
Very Stable Netherlands, Switzerland
Stable USA, UK, Canada
Unstable Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia

13
About Protest
 Context of Protest:
 Challenge to the state legitimacy
 Reluctantly accepting state legitimacy
 Making of Protest:
 Persuasive
 Collaborative
 Confrontational
 Consequences of Protest:
 Successful
 Partially successful
 Unsuccessful

14