Deepening democracy

The sense that democracy is in retreat worldwide has become widespread. In response to this "democratic recession," contemporary development policy offers a package of one-size-fits-all solutions to the challenge of making states more responsive to the needs of the poor. The Citizenship DRC seeks to go beyond this 'one-size-fits-all' understanding of democracy, by asking how alternative forms of politics – such as protests, social participation, activism, litigation and lobbying – engage with the formal institutions of representative democracy to produce more just and equitable societies.

This research programme was convened by Vera Schattan P. Coelho and Bettina von Lieres and involved partners from Angola, Brazil, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, South Africa and the UK.