Ongoing Contestation Research Articles

Section 9 in a time of COVID: Substantive equality, economic inclusion and positive duties

Within the broad context of deepening inequality and poverty under Covid-19, this article examines three equality-related cases that address the distribution of economic relief to mitigate the effects of the pandemic in South Africa. In doing so, it explores three broad themes. First, what the cases reveal about ongoing political and legal contestation over the meaning of equality and the application of the equality right. Second, the disjuncture that exists between the powerful inclusive tendencies of the s 9(3) protection against unfair discrimination and the limits imposed on this by poor implementation and questions of economic inclusion and (re)distribution. Third, how courts understand the place of race, gender and other criteria of disadvantage in the distribution of emergency relief. Overall it draws out the contours of the courts’ commitment to substantive equality. Here it emphasises their role in economic inclusion and an emerging interpretive approach which gives rise to constitutionally mandated positive duties on government to consider race and gender disadvantage in questions of economic relief. This development, it suggests, fits with an emergent positive duties jurisprudence in socio-economic rights cases that can be further developed to hold the state accountable for the achievement of substantive equality.

Some reflections on contestation and cosmopolitanism in democracy and their implications for public administration

Ongoing contestation over the meaning of democracy reflects value conflicts that exist within and across different national cultures and, as such, is intimately tied to the conduct of politics. It follows that the imposition of any single abstract and cosmopolitan idea of democracy on a society is always potentially dangerous to the practice of politics and to the variety of different values that different individuals, groups and cultures hold to be important to them. However, this need not lead one to be nihilistic about the meaning of democracy. Drawing on Camus’ idea of rebellion, this paper argues that any cosmopolitan conception of democracy must include recognition of the right of citizens to contest the decisions and actions of their government. The implications of this idea for public administration scholarship and practice are examined.

Transformed by contested digital spaces? Social media and Ukrainian diasporic ‘selves’ in the wake of the conflict with Russia

AbstractThe ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has had a profound effect not only on the warring countries but also on diasporas that are related to them. Bringing together theories of diasporic identities and new media, this paper explores how Ukrainian diasporic ‘selves’ are affected by the ongoing conflict with the focus on the role of social media in the formation of their national and ethnic identities. With a series of in‐depth interviews conducted in Europe and North America, this study identifies the functions of social media in diasporic self‐understanding, representation of national culture and online commemoration and mourning. The findings reveal that social media provide diasporic subjects with a space for the negotiation and performance of ethnic and national identities. Within this space, however, they experience ongoing contestation that makes ‘new’ diaspora members more prone to relate to the radicalised discourses on national history, explanations of the conflict and Ukrainian monolingualism.

The Dakota Access Pipeline in Illinois: Participation, power, and institutional design in United States critical energy infrastructure governance

The role of participation in US energy governance sits at the heart of ongoing contestation around the crude oil-bearing Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Theconstruction of the 1,172-mile pipeline raised questions about the public’s ability to influence energy infrastructure development considered by the US government as “critical” to national security. While numerous scholars and courts have begun to question whether thefederalregulatory process that permitted DAPL sufficiently allowed for participation, less work has examinedstate-levelprocesses. In this article, we ask whether actors who participated in the regulatory process at the state-level had sufficient opportunity to influence the siting, permitting, and construction of DAPL. We focus on Illinois, analyzing the 2015 proceeding by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to permit DAPL. Drawing on fieldwork between October 2018 and May 2020, we argue the ICC regulatory process minimized the space available for pipeline opposition in three ways. First, the ICC is limited, in an institutional design sense, from integrating broad public opinion into its decision-making process. Second, as a function of its design, pipeline opponents required significant knowledge and resources to mount claims before the ICC. Finally, we contend that politically powerful interest groups, especially labor unions and industry stakeholders, shape pipeline politics in Illinois in ways that further limit avenues for formal opposition. Our work raises important questions about the impact of public participation in contemporary energy and environmental governance, as well as how democratic contestation surrounding oil pipelines can openspacefor resistance and transformativesocial change.

Pan‐Africanism, Participation and Legitimation in the African Governance Architecture

AbstractThis article examines how contending appeals to pan‐Africanism have been central to the (de)legitimation processes that have shaped the trajectory of African regional governance. Such appeals have been used variously to construct and contest the scale, pace and norms constituting continental integration, including its modes of participation. The African Union (AU) remains a site of contestation over the internal legitimation of competing pan‐African agendas as well as external legitimation in the face of interested global forces. We draw on relevant scholarly works, policy documents and interviews with AU practitioners to examine the AU's African Governance Architecture as a set of continental agencies, principles and processes claiming to promote a democratic governance agenda premised on pan‐African Shared Values and wider participation. We demonstrate how the particular functioning of several nascent participatory innovations under AGA reflects ongoing contestation over the form and function of African regional governance.

Something’s Rotten in Kashmir: Postcolonial Ambivalence and the War on Terror in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider

ABSTRACT Haider, the terminal film in Vishal Bhardwaj's Indian Shakespeare trilogy, reconfigures Hamlet in the context of Indian-occupied Kashmir. Haider, tethers Shakespeare's play to contemporary geopolitical issues destabilizing the Indian subcontinent, the uneasy and anxious location of Kashmir within the Indian national and political imaginary. Drawing on the turmoil of the nativist insurgency and Indian government sponsored counter-insurgency, which literally turned brother against brother, Bhardwaj's aptly pivots to Hamlet as the vehicle through which to represent the conflict. While Bhardwaj's adaptation offers a compelling meditation on the ways in which postcolonial adaptations of Shakespeare can interrogate the very notion of postcoloniality, particularly when portraying a state—Kashmir—of ongoing colonial contest and violence, Haider is further complicated, I argue here, by its ambivalent participation in “War on Terror culture,” which demands a certain pathologically violent depiction of Muslim identity and in which the film eagerly and easily traffics.

The politics of the street: Street art, public writing and the history of political contest in Chile

This commentary focuses on the politics of public space in democracy and dictatorship. It delves into what Peter Winn calls the revolution ‘from below’ from the perspective of urban conflict, suggesting a political history that attends to urban and visual culture as a crucial arena of political practice. It suggests that the often-conflictive battle over public spaces was, and continues to be, a mechanism by which an unprecedented range of citizens entered into an ongoing debate over the boundaries of citizenship, practice, politics and that this practice was adapted, transformed and reimagined over the last five decades. The struggle over streets and walls continues to be central to Chilean political history, and urban space remains a field of ongoing contest and debate: the estallido of social unrest in contemporary Chile connected a new generation of activists to this longer history of creative politics of protest and protest art and gave them the opportunity to articulate new forms of intersectional political thought in public space, even in the face of state-sponsored violence. Studying these forms of unrest reveals that theirs is an incisive, intersectional critique of the limits of the ‘transition to democracy’, of neoliberal democracies and of the legacies of dictatorship.

Conspiracy Theories and Modern Disjuncture Amidst COVID-19 in Indonesia

Amidst the global outbreak of COVID-19 in Indonesia, the government has been under the spotlight for not being able to formulate a proper response. Aside from the malfunctioning bureaucracy, the low compliance among Indonesian citizen toward public health advice complicates the impact of COVID-19 in Indonesia. One factor that contributes to the attitude of society is the spread of false information and conspiracy theories associated to the virus itself. How do we explain the spread of conspiracy theories propagation under the threat of COVID-19 in Indonesia? The article argues that the spread of conspiracy theories amidst the pandemic reflects the on-going contestation of political legitimacy between state and society in Indonesia. To elaborate this point, the article elucidates the three critical junctures that buttressed the propagation of conspiracy theories. First, conspiracy theory was utilized as a foundation of authoritarian regime of Soeharto, and later became an institutionalized tool to maintain its power. Second, the entanglement between democratic ecosystem and proliferation of social media after Reformasi has enabled society to appropriate conspiracy theories as a form of resistance and skepticism toward government. Third, the tension between state and society in regards to the authority manifested on the contention on COVID-19 management in Indonesia. The government have been trying to maintain the legitimacy by being secretive on COVID-19 information. At the same time, some elements of society responded to the secretive government with propagation conspiracy theories that also justify public disobedience toward health protocols. These combinations have further exacerbated the impact of COVID-19 in Indonesia.

Contesting Welfare Discourses in Post-New Order Indonesia

This article analyses the contestation of 'welfare' discourses in Indonesia since the fall of the New Order, employing the discourse theory offered by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe in their Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (2001 [1985]). Its main argument is that welfare is an “empty signifier”, the meaning of which may shift or change as a consequence of the unfinished discursive contestations of various subject positions. This article identifies four central discourses, or master signifiers, between 1998 and 2015 that serve as “nodal points” in the hegemonisation of welfare: "Social Safety Net", "Creative Innovation" versus "Electoral Strategy", "Sustainable Development", and "Right of the People and Constitutional Obligation of the State". The dominant and hegemonic meaning of welfare, understood here as a “nodal point”, is only temporary; it is partially fixed, while at the same time experiencing ongoing discursive contestation. It is, is being, and will be subjected to unending dislocation.

The Entanglement between Religion and Politics

Abstract The relationship between religion and social movements is an important topic in the study of religion and society. This paper uses various textual and online sources to examine the role of Christianity in the anti-extradition bill movement that took place in Hong Kong from April to September 2019. The anti-extradition bill movement, which later evolved into a much wider movement against totalitarianism, has caused churches to grapple with church-state relations in the post-handover era. This paper employs the notion of “public religion” as an analytical framework to examine the process of the “deprivatization” of Christianity in Hong Kong. How does the ongoing contestation, both within and outside the church, reflect the challenges faced by Christianity when entering the public sphere? By answering the above questions, we will be able to explicate the religio-political significance of the protest movement in Hong Kong.

My Tongue is a Mountain: Land, Belonging and the Politics of Voice

Indigenous story is about place and our orientation to the place(s) we live through and in. This essay is about Diné (Navajo) identity and its entanglements with the authority of words and the politics of voice within the academy. It is about how voice or narrative are political acts that ground Indigenous peoples in land and territory. In Diné communities, there are ongoing discussions regarding the politics of authority and representation in the erasure of Indigenous voices in academic spaces. Such academic erasure has ripple effects into the ongoing contestation of land and belonging. These ripple effects fuel identity politics among Diné people on the community level. I argue that Diné people themselves are erased and the everyday narrations of our realities and experiences through these normalized academic processes. In addressing those academic processes, I draw attention to another framework for identity politics that encourages and supports not only our voices as Diné people but upholds our intellectual sovereignty and claims to land. I engage narrative to bring forward an understanding that our relationships to words and story extend beyond our tongues.

Carceral Citizenship as Strength: Formerly Incarcerated Activists, Civic Engagement and Criminal Justice Transformation.

During the era of mass incarceration, a history of felony convictions and imprisonment imposes legal and extra-legal sanctions that strip individuals of rights—what Miller and Alexander (2016) call “carceral citizenship.” Despite the wide-reaching structural constraints that accompany the identity of being formerly incarcerated, many individuals enact their agency with civic engagement to reshape boundaries around individual and collective identity. Building from past convict criminology research (e.g., Ross and Richards 2003), we address the gap of including formerly incarcerated people into policymaking and community organizing around penal system reform. We offer expanded conceptualization of “carceral citizenship” and provide a framework for the transformation of practices that constitute carceral systems. As Goodman and colleagues (2017) demonstrate, the reformation of penal systems is not simply a result of the mechanical swing of a pendulum. Instead, the ongoing contestation between different stakeholders shapes criminal justice. Borrowing foundational theoretical concepts from multiple critical criminology perspectives, we frame the role of “carceral citizenship” within the transformation of the penal system reform.

Can a Planet in Peril Contain Geopolitical Rivalries?

This essay uses the tools of Western empirical reasoning to analyze the origins and driving forces of the ongoing geopolitical contest between China and the United States. The essay argues that the origins of the geopolitical contest lie in China’s rapid growth from the Deng era, the relative socioeconomic decline of the United States, and the failure of the United States to work out a rational, comprehensive strategy for managing China’s rise. Finally, in the fallout of the global COVID-19 pandemic, where the relations between the two countries have been further strained, the essay argues that the two countries can manage their geopolitical rivalry if they concentrate instead on five “noncontradictions” that also characterize their relationship: that between the fundamental national interests of both countries; in tackling climate change; in the ideological sphere; in the American and Chinese civilizations; and in their worldview.

Review: First Strike: Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles, by Damien M. Sojoyner

Review: First Strike: Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles, by Damien M. Sojoyner

Emerging Powers in the World Trading System: Contestation of the Developing Country Status and the Reproduction of Inequalities

ABSTRACT This article investigates discursive struggles over the boundaries of the categorisation of developing countries in the world trade regime. A key principle of the World Trade Organization (WTO) grants special rights to the group of developing countries. Recently, it has become highly contested whether emerging economies such as China can legitimately claim to belong to the group of developing countries. This article uncovers how old and new economic powers have tried to strategically (re)frame the boundaries of the developing country categorisation in the WTO. I argue that ongoing contestation reproduces inequalities because many developing countries are unwittingly negatively affected by the lack of formal criteria for classifying emerging economies—even if emerging economies themselves may benefit. In doing so, I illustrate how informal practices of classification may undermine the original intention of categorisation in International Organizations that aims to address inequality among its members.

Democracy and Monarchy in Thailand: Reconciliation or Reckoning?

After a series of back-and-forth color-coded street protests, punctuated by two military coups and two constitutions, so far in the 21st century, Thailand has arrived at a new juncture that appears familiar and yet likely to prove profoundly different. At issue is an ongoing contest over who gets to rule, and how. But this time, the forces of the status quo comprised of the military, monarchy, judiciary, bureaucracy, and yellow-shirt columns no longer face the political party machine of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and its red-shirt supporters based in rural heartlands. Instead, a broad-based and organic youth movement on a myriad of campuses in high schools and universities across the country are challenging the established centers of power to reform and modernize. At issue is whether a compromise emerges as the dust of conflict thickens. Military coups more than parliamentary solutions determined past outcomes after unworkable tension and turmoil. But this time, a putsch under a new reign may not succeed in clearing the slate for a reset. Thailand is facing an uncharted and precarious frontier. Navigating out of this quagmire requires mutual respect and understanding. The youth movement will need to broaden and appeal to other segments of society and older demographics to reinforce their grievances and demands, pressing for concessions and reforms of traditional institutions rather than upending them. Notwithstanding lip service and foot-dragging on a constitutional overhaul, the incumbent regime and entrenched institutions of the old order must realize that only concessions and compromises can ensure some of their privileges and prerogatives will be maintained.

Contestation between Puritan Islam and Kejawen in the Urban Yogyakarta of Indonesia

Tensions between Puritan Islam and Kejawen Islam have never been resolved, despite various accommodation efforts. The ongoing contestation of the two traditions in Islam in Yogyakarta is because both always maintain strict cultural boundaries through symbols that represent their respective identities, be it in religious, art, cultural, economic and political practices. This study focuses on three aspects: (1) the form of representation of the contestation between Islam and Tradition (Kejawen) in the city of Yogyakarta; (2) the historical and cultural context which is the basis for the contestation between Islam and tradition; and (3) how the contestation between Islam and the Kejawen tradition is managed by each community in an effort to minimize the occurrence of social conflict between the two. Through these three aspects, this research aims to offer a new perspective in viewing the dialectical relations between Puritan Islam and Javanese (Kejawen) tradition contextually. The contestation between the Islamic tradition and the Kejawen tradition continued because of historical, political and global currents that provided space for both traditions to build their respective cultural identities.

WHAT IS NEW MATERIALISM?

New materialism is one of the most important emerging trends in the humanities and social sciences, but it is also one of the least understood. This is because, as a term of ongoing contestation, it currently has no single definition. The novel contribution of this article is to offer a critical introduction to new materialism that distinguishes between three commonly conflated strands and to argue for what we find to be the most promising and novel of the three directions. The paper unfolds in four parts: First, it illuminates more precisely just what is “new” about new materialism by contrasting it with “old” materialism. Second, it clarifies how failed materialism is an intermediary theory between old and new materialisms. Third, it untangles and compares three main directions in new materialism. Fourth, it ultimately argues in favor of the third direction.

Public health over private wealth: rebalancing public and private interests in international trade and investment agreements.

The emerging global trade and investment regime is a site of ongoing contestation between states, powerful industry actors and civil society organisations seeking to influence the formation of legal rules, principles, practices and institutions. The inclusion of major transnational tobacco, alcohol and ultraprocessed food companies seeking to influence governments in these processes has resulted in the expanded distribution and consumption of unhealthy commodities across the globe, overshadowing many of the positive impacts for health hypothesised from liberalised trade. The growing number of pathways for market actors to exert undue influence over national and international regulatory environments provided by agreements, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, has given many cause to be concerned. In the context of continued commitment by states to international trade and investment negotiations, we present several avenues for public health scholars, advocates and practitioners to explore to rebalance public and private interests in these deals.

Negotiating invisible lines: Cross-border emergency care in the rural north of Scandinavia

ABSTRACTCross-border cooperation is increasingly practised as a spatial planning strategy in health care. This observation is emphasized in numerous reports on transboundary agreements in European border regions. While the projects hint at an ongoing contestation and reconfiguration of nationally bordered health care pathways, they have rarely been subject to critical geographical inquiry. Departing from contemporary border studies debates, the article addresses this gap by providing a nuanced perspective on the socio-spatial complexity of health care practices across Europe’s internal borders. The author demonstrates this empirically by focusing on a framework for emergency care assistance in the northernmost regions of Scandinavia. He uses a heuristic approach to borderscapes as assemblages, and conceptually argues that the strategic reconfiguration of emergency care provision through cross-border cooperation is not adequately captured by a narrative of dissolving topographically bordered sovereignty (i.e. the commonplace notion of overcoming national boundaries). Based on a qualitative analysis of motives, procedures and hurdles, the author concludes that the attempt to cope with demography and distance in rural northern health care formats a socio-spatial arrangement in its own right, a case-specific geography of emergency care that is characterized by a complex interplay between different sites and their multiple bordering trajectories.