Participatory development and empowerment: The dangers of localism

TLDR

Development discourse has shifted from holistic theory to localized, empirical approaches, with practice increasingly emphasizing participation and empowerment that aligns diverse left and right actors. The paper investigates how localism manifests in decentralised service delivery, participatory development, social capital, local development, and radical democracy, and argues for a stronger focus on the politics of the local and its use by hegemonic and counter‑hegemonic forces. The study finds that an overemphasis on the local underplays local inequalities, power relations, and national or transnational economic and political forces.

Abstract

Recent discussions in development have moved away from holistic theorisation towards more localised, empirical and inductive approaches. In development practice there has been a parallel move towards local ‘participation’ and ‘empowerment’, which has produced, albeit with very different agendas, a high level of agreement between actors and institutions of the ‘new’ Left and the ‘new’ Right. This paper examines the manifestations of this move in four key political arenas: decentralised service delivery, participatory development, social capital formation and local development, and collective actions for ‘radical democracy’. We argue that, by focusing so heavily on ‘the local’, the see manifestations tend to underplay both local inequalities and power relations as well as national and transnational economic and political forces. Following from this, we advocate a stronger emphasis on the politics of the local, ie on the political use of ‘the local’ by hegemonic and counter-hegemonic interests.