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Mahmud, S & N, Kabeer
In VSP Coelho & B von Lieres (eds) Mobilizing for Democracy: Citizen Action and the Politics of Public Participation. London: Zed.
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordere...
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordered from Zed Books at www.zedbooks.co.uk/citizenship or purchased at the IDS bookstore.
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Mahmud, S, Kabeer, N & J G, Isaza Castro
IDS Working Paper 343
Bangladesh has come to embody an interesting paradox. On the one hand, it has experienced rising rates of growth, a s...
Bangladesh has come to embody an interesting paradox. On the one hand, it has experienced rising rates of growth, a slow but steady decline in poverty and impressive progress in terms of social development, outperforming some of its richer neighbours on a number of Millennium Development Goals. On the other hand, it has an abysmal record on governance and was ranked as the world's most corrupt country for five consecutive years by Transparency International. There is an emerging view that the country's extremely active development NGO sector has contributed to some of the more positive achievements. The question that this paper sets out to address is why these organisations have not made an equivalent contribution on the governance front. The paper argues that while Bangladesh is reported to have more NGOs per capita than other developing countries, those organisations have gradually abandoned social mobilising and collective action strategies for a narrower focus on service delivery and microcredit provision. Our research with the members of six organisations that straddle the continuum between microfinance and social mobilisation suggests that the specific developmental strategies of these membership-based groups do indeed have consequences for both development and democracy in the country.
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Kabeer, N, Haq Kabir, A & TY, Huq
IDS Working Paper 333
The debate about civil society within development has been largely influenced by a liberal theoretical tradition whic...
The debate about civil society within development has been largely influenced by a liberal theoretical tradition which views it as an autonomous collective space between the state and individuals where citizens can come together to debate the public good. It is thus seen as a key element of the democratic society. More recently, with the rise of neo-liberal thinking within the development community, civil society organisations have been identified as a preferred private alternative to state service provision in contexts where markets are missing or imperfect. There is however an alternative radical tradition which sees civil society as a product of the same structures of power that permeate underlie state society relations. Within this tradition, civil society organisations can be seen as holding conflicting views about states, markets and citizenship and engaging in actions which can challenge or uphold the status quo.
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Kabeer, N & A, Haq Kabir
IDS Working Paper 331
The complex nature of the challenge posed by state-society relations to the realisation of citizenship rights in the ...
The complex nature of the challenge posed by state-society relations to the realisation of citizenship rights in the poorer countries of the world reflects the incapacity or unwillingness on the part of the state to guarantee basic security of life and livelihoods to its citizens and its proneness to capture by powerful elites that perpetuate this state of affairs. Consequently, access to resources continue to be defined by position within an unequal social order that is largely constituted by the ascribed relationships of family, kinship, caste and so on. These relationships pervade all spheres of society, rendering irrelevant the idea of an impersonal public sphere which individuals enter as bearers of rights, equal in the eyes of the law. Indeed, given their reliance on patron client relations for their basic survival and security, the idea of individual rights is unlikely to have much meaning or relevance in the lives of most poor people.
This paper explores the hypothesis that the possibility of belonging to alternative associations whose membership is not "given" by position in the social order holds out the greatest promise for democratising the social order. Bangladesh offers an interesting context in which to explore this hypothesis because while it embodies most the problems of bad governance outlined above, it also has a large number of civil society organisations, many of whom work primarily with the poorer sections of society. The research focused on the working poor who are most likely to belong to these associations. Analysis of their narratives about their lives and livelihood and their views about rights and social justice suggests, not surprisingly, that there is nothing inherently democratic about civil society organisations in Bangladesh, even those ostensibly oriented to the interests of poor people. What appeared to explain the extent to which organisations were able to achieve democratic outcomes appeared to depend, first of all, on the extent of their commitment to the promotion of citizenship rights among poor people and secondly, on the extent to which they were able to carry out their commitments without interference from the state. In the context of Bangladesh, the state appeared to be far more pro-poor in rural than in urban areas.
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Mahmud, S & N, Kabeer
in P Newell & J Wheeler (eds) Rights, Resources and the Politics of Accountability. London: Zed
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordere...
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordered from Zed Books at www.zedbooks.co.uk/citizenship or purchased at the IDS bookstore.
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Kabeer, N
In N Kabeer (ed.) Inclusive Citizenship: Meanings and Expressions. London: Zed.
Although the idea of citizenship is nearly universal today, what it means and how it is experienced are not. Nor have...
Although the idea of citizenship is nearly universal today, what it means and how it is experienced are not. Nor have they ever been. As a reading of the literature quickly reveals, the history of citizenship in both north and south has been a history of struggle over how it is to be defined and who it is to include. However, what is also clear is that a great deal of the theoretical debate about citizenship today is taking place in an ‘empirical void’ (Lister and others, this volume), where the views and perspectives of ‘ordinary’ citizens are largely absent. We do not know what citizenship means to people – particularly people whose status as citizens is either non-existent or extremely precarious – nor what these meanings tell us about the goal of building inclusive societies. The contributions to this volume go some way towards addressing
this void. They explore the meanings and experiences of citizenship in different parts of the world, giving particular attention to the perspectives of the poor and socially excluded.
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Kabeer, N
In N Kabeer (ed.) Inclusive Citizenship: Meanings and Expressions. London: Zed
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordere...
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordered from Zed Books at www.zedbooks.co.uk/citizenship or purchased at the IDS bookstore.
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Kabeer, N
IDS Working Paper 200
Whilst there is a formal commitment to rights in Bangladesh, spelt out in its constitution, its legal framework and i...
Whilst there is a formal commitment to rights in Bangladesh, spelt out in its constitution, its legal framework and its ratification of various international conventions on rights, the reality for its citizens is one of violations as much as the observance of rights. For the poor, in particular, who rely for their survival on relationships which position them as dependent on more powerful patrons, there is little prospect of demanding justice. The NGO sector in Bangladesh has sought to compensate for various deficits which characterise the lives of poor and marginalised groups. However, few attempt to directly address the “rights deficit”. One of the few to do so exception is Nijera Kori whose strategy is to build the capacity of the poor to mobilise in defence of their rights and in pursuit of justice. Its focus therefore is on “collective” rather than individual capabilities. The paper concludes by drawing out what Nijera Kori’s experience tells us about processes of social change and its challenge to the linear logic that characterises donor agency approaches to accountability.
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Kabeer, N
IDS Working Paper 171
The study of citizenship began as the study of political rights and democratic governance within Western politics and...
The study of citizenship began as the study of political rights and democratic governance within Western politics and philosophy. Today however, it encompasses a broader sociological perspective highlighting that a universally shared concept of citizenship is further away from practical articulation and understandings of the concept than ever. This paper will examine the interaction of two different forms of citizen belonging, and the rights and responsibilities associated with these: 1) membership of the imagined community of the nation-state and 2) membership of various acknowledged communities at the sub-national level. In examining these different forms of citizen membership, so to speak, the paper explores processes of access and exclusion - both separately and in interaction with each other.
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Kabeer, N
IDS Bulletin 33(2)
This paper explores the simultaneous processes of inclusion and exclusion as they have occurred in different places a...
This paper explores the simultaneous processes of inclusion and exclusion as they have occurred in different places and at different times in order to understand better the vision of society, the material interests and the notions of identity which have helped to delineate different understandings of the concept. The article aims to contribute to the development of a research agenda on the theme of inclusive citizenship, particularly the challenges it presents in the context of poorer southern countries today. Building on Fraser and Gordons historical analysis of civic and social citizenship, it is argued that the notions of citizenship constructed in the West are inappropriate in post-colonial contexts, in which pre-existing differences within the population have been exacerbated or artificially suppressed by the strategic manoeuvrings of colonial powers. As a result prevailing ideas about personhood, identity and affiliation lead to fractured notions of citizenship and exclusionary outcomes. The author concludes with a proposal of four themes for future research into inclusive citizenship in the South.
