gsgs 2000 quiz 2

development definition

a set of practices, sometimes appearing in conflict with one another, which require- for the reproduction of society- the general transformation and destruction of the natural environoment and social relations

aim of development

to increase the production of commodities geared, by way of exchange, to effective demand

The Thaba-Tseka project

• joint world bank/canadian project to decentralize governance

  • instead reinforced elite control and propaganda

• faced local resistance

• illustrated mismatch between plans and social realities

world bank framing of lesotho- and ferguson’s response

• isolated, traditional, subsistence-based agricultural

  economy. This framing suggested that Lesotho was disconnected from regional markets and in

  need of development intervention

• misleading portrayal that undermined Lesotho’s existing systems of labor and development

main point of ferguson

development is a machine for strengthening state power

the anti-politics machine definition

• a system that transforms political struggles into technical problems

mechanisms of the anti politics machine

• frames poverty as a technical deficiency

• depoliticizes aid and legitimizes intervention

• expands bureaucratic reach

technomanagerialism

the belief and practice that societal and environmental challenges should be governed through expert knowledge, technological solutions, and bureaucratic management, thereby depoliticizing decision making and marginalizing democratic, ethical, and social considerations

Tania Li’s definition of “render technical”

the process of translating complex political, social, and economic issues into narrowly defined technical problems with technical solutions. This process changes how problems are understood.

• depoliticizes debate by removing questions about power, history, and structural inequality.

• limits the range of possible solutions to those that can be implemented through technical expertise.

• overall doesn’t solve underlying problems- allows system to keep operating while looking like changes are being made

phatic labor

• the work involved in creating and maintaining social relationships that enable the circulation of information, trust, and economic value. This includes everyday communicative practices like visiting, gossiping, and maintaining social ties that create and sustain channels of relationships within a community, which generate communicative infrastructure.

ferguson suggestions for improving development

• political participation in one’s own society

• engagements with counter-hegemonic social forces

• empowerment arises from local struggles: unions, women’s associations, resistance

• role of intellectuals: critique, solidarity, local autonomy

what counts as work?

• wage labor (productive labor)

• domestic labor (reproductive labor)

• emotional labor

• socializing and gossip

• networking and relationship maintenance

microfinance expansion (90s)

• reframed poverty as an individual entrepreneurial problem

• treated poverty as a lack of credit

• emphasized individual initiative over structural reform

• positioned women as reliable financial actors

• helped financialize the informal economy

women’s empowerment discourse

• shifted attention away from other policies such as land reforms, labor rights, SAPs, and state disinvestment

• shifted toward individual self improvement, entrepreneurial initiative, and capacity building

how do the case studies demonstrate phatic labor?

• In the case of Um Muhammed, her coffeehouse functioned as an economic hub sustained by invisible relational labor. While men occupied the visible productive space, her ongoing work of maintaining relationships and social ties supported the entire system.

• In the case of Khadija, phatic labor is seen in the creation of workshop networks built on kinship and social ties. These relationships formed an informal infrastructure that enabled economic activity.

• In both scenarios, phatic labor produces communicative infrastructure. It is not merely social interaction, but a form of labor that underpins economic systems by facilitating the circulation of value.

network vs infrastructure models

• network: relationships, individuals, personal ties

• infrastructure: channels, durable pathways, enables large-scale circulation

what is a semiotic community?

• a group of people who share a system of meaning through common symbols, language, and communicative codes

• people within it understand what certain symbols mean and what forms of communication are acceptable. These shared interpretive frameworks allow people to interact effectively and coordinate behavior.

Why is a semiotic community important/relevant?

it highlights that communication is not neutral. It depends on shared meanings that are socially constructed. It also connects to phatic labor, as maintaining these shared systems of meaning requires ongoing relational work.

How does development transform commons into commodities?

This process often begins with phatic labor, where people create and maintain social networks. NGOs and development organizations then map and formalize these networks, turning them into data, reports, and measurable metrics. This visibility allows corporations to enter and build systems, such as digital payment platforms, on top of these networks. Over time, what was once a shared social resource becomes privatized and commodified. The value generated through social relationships is extracted and incorporated into formal economic systems.

What does “tragedy of the commons” mean?

the concept that if no one controls access to resources, individuals maximize personal benefit and collective goods become degraded or destroyed

political usefulness of the crisis narrative

• serves as a justification for policy changes at national level

• generates increasing amounts of international aid money

the desertification crisis narrative

• official discourse frames morocco as suffering ecological catastrophe- pastoralists are blamed for overgrazing and degradation

• billions invested in anti desertification projects by EU, World Banks, etc

• political function: legitimizes state control and international funding

sovereignty

states have supreme authority over their own territory and population

territorial integrity

defined boundaries establish the limits of a states jurisdiction

equality of states

regardless of size or power, all states are equal under international law

non interference

one state cannot legally interfere with the domestic affairs of another

traditional notion of security

state centric- what any one state needs to be protected from

focus on material sources of power (military, economic)

human security concept

• redefined the concept of security as: “safety from chronic threats and protection from sudden hurtful disruptions in the pattern of daily life”

• safety for people from both violent and non violent threats; freedom from fear and freedom to want

does the security of humans as individuals override the sovereignty of the state?

• globalization prompts states to become engaged in preventing issues and intervening before situations spiral out of control

• revolution in IT has created increased awareness of injustice and conflicts. this gives a cost to warfare and violence to the state committing it.

UNDP’s seven types of human security (1994)

• economic

• food

• health

• environmental

• personal

• community

• political

nontraditional security threats: examples

• migration

• global crime

• trafficking

• instability in financial markets and job security

• spread of disease

• rise of internal conflicts

types of deficiencies in weak states

1. security deficiency

2. participation deficiency

3. infrastructure deficiency

security deficiency

inability of a state to protect their citizens

participation deficiency

when in a state political participation is absent or highly restricted. civil society is absent or dysfunctional

infrastructure deficiency

state is unable to collect taxes effectively, often resulting in a poorly maintained physical infrastructure and a large debt

why are failed/weak states a problem?

• they suffer from low external sovereignity

• cannot easily prevent hostile non state actors from organizing within them, resulting in greater rates of security threats. weak states become bases and sanctuaries for terrorist and insurgent groups

external sovereignty

the recognition of sovereignty by other states rather than an ability to fulfill functions of a state. limits actions foreign states can take upon a weak state.

main challenges to legitimacy of the state and the state system

1. democracy

2. religion

3. nationalism

fukuyama’s end of history

• heralded the triumph of western liberal democracy over other types of political models.

• welcomed western policy- believed world would be more secure as a result of it

religion as a challenge to state legitimacy

• transnational and potent force- loyalty to religion can override state authority and legitimacy

nationalism as a challenge to state legitimacy

• globalization creates pressure for groups (nations) to preserve their identities, undermining the power of the state if it is not a nation-state or contains marginalized nations.

  • genocide, ethnic cleansing, civil wars, secession

  • “why are outsiders ruling us?”

Responsibility to Protect Doctrine

• made in the UN security council in 2006

• facets:

1. states have r2p their people

2. states have responsibility to assist other states to assist the people of that state

3. states should be prepared to take action, in a timely and decisive manner, thru UNSC, on a case by case basis to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.

agents of security besides govts

• bureaucracies

• corporations

• international organizations

• NGOs

• social movements

• religious organizations

• private security companies

mamdani: culture talk

• predilection to define cultures according to their presumed “essential” characteristics, especially in regard to politics

• tendency to think of culture in political, and therefore territorial, terms

• functions to erase history and context, dehistoricizes politics

• paints people as backward, conforming to lifeless custom, noncreative but simultaneously having abundant capacity for destruction

• encourages collective discipline and punishment (colonial model)

truman 4 point plan

• support UN

• commitment to global economic recovery

• strengthen “freedom loving nations” against aggression

• making scientific and industrial advances in underdeveloped countries

components of “premodern” societies

• prisoner of culture

• destructive

• encapsulated in ancient texts, often religious ones

• no history/politics/debates

• savior must come from outside

components of “modern” societies

• makes culture

• creative

• constantly moving to the future

• secularism/metaphorical understanding of religious texts

• change and innovation

• white man’s burden

rendering technical

process by which experts translate political social and economic complexities into technical problems with technical solutions, depoliticizing social issues and legitimizing expert intervention

missing context on burqa

local pashtun custom, expanded at a particular historical time/context

desiring subjects

• how we learn to want what we want

what does the narrative of the savior imply?

• sense of superiority

• danger of reification

• history of salvation narrative

post cultural relativism (critical relativism)

a philosophical and analytical approach that acknowledges multiple valid perspectives on reality—shaped by culture, context, or framework—while maintaining a critical evaluation of these viewpoints rather than accepting all as equally valid

migration as a crisis framework

• integrates 3 interrelated dimensions: events, discourses, and governance

• migration isn’t inherently crisis producing; crises are constructed through representation and response

• highlights how discourse shapes perception and justifies policy action

• encourages asking who defines crisis, under what conditions, and with what consequences

who defines a migration crisis

• states, media, international organizations

• language choices

• institutions reinforcing distinctions that shape protection and exclusion

usefulness of crisis narratives

• depoliticizes root causes like inequality and climate vulnerability

• creates self reinforcing cycles of control and misgovernance

• positions migration as an external threat, obscuring its structural dimensions

• legitimizes extraordinary border and asylum policies

• framing migration as a crisis justifies exceptional measures and suspends normal politics

subjectivities

• how you learned to be you- what systems ideas etc made you who you are?

• what is explicit and what is tacit

positionality

your attributes within a matrix

reflexivity

practices of critically recognizing self and the impact of self

political subjectivity

• premodern/modern structure and example of this

• how a person or group stakes claims, has a voice, and is recognizable by authorities

illiberal subjects

ideologies, movements, and actors rejecting core liberal democratic principles—such as equality, minority rights, and the rule of law—often favoring cultural homogeneity, nationalism, or authoritarianism.

what to do besides cultural relativism

• training sights on ways to make the world more just

• change language to solidarity, alliances, coalitions

• recognize our own embeddedness

• follow the lead of those directly impacted

seven basic tactics of authoritarianism

• politicizing independent institutions

• spreading disinformation

• aggrandizing executive power

• quashing dissent

• scapegoating vulnerable communities

• corrupting elections

• stoking violence

democratic backsliding

the process by which a state becomes less democratic over time

• no cataclysmic state collapse required, gradual process

• facilitated by political polarization, which encourages people to think in terms of us and them and to view political opposition as illegitimate

indicators of democratic backsliding

• breakdown in the norms of political behavior and standards

• disempowerment of the legislature, courts, and independent regulators

• reduction of civil liberties and press freedoms, and/or

• harm to the integrity of the electoral system

4 corners of authoritarianism article

1. ambiguity in the definition of authoritarianism across disciplines: regimes/practices vs personalities/psychology

2. wants to provide a general concept that travels across levels and objects of analysis

3. offers new concept: justificatory authoritarianism

4. not talking about petty authoritarianism or bald coercion

authoritarianism levels of analysis

1. individual

2. organizational/group

3. regime

individual level of analysis

• dispositions to endorse unconstrained power for collective benefit

organizational/group level of analysis

• parties, movements, bureaucracies coordinating exceptions

regime level of analysis

• institutional designs enabling or constraining justification turn to power

right wing authoritarian constituent cluster (RWA)

rooted in perceiving the world as unstable and dangerous, inclining individuals toward conformity to authority, traditional norms, and punitive responses to deviance.

social dominance orientation (SDO)

• rooted in viewing society as a competitive hierarchy, inclining individuals to prefer group based dominance and status preservation

justificatory authoritarianism

• a framework that licenses exercising unconstrained power over others

• suspends or bypasses constraints by appealing to a considerable collective benefit

• not merely absence of democracy, not just raw force

• reason giving claims about security, emergency, unity, purity, utopia

removal of constraints

• allowing some parties to exercise power in a way that preempts or supersedes their being held accountable to some relevant set of norms

types of constraints on power

• legal/institutional

• social/conventional

• moral/ethical

modes of suspension of constraints

• emergency declarations, security threats

• administrative “reforms” that weaken checks while retaining a democratic façade

bald coercion

force without justificatory appeal

electoral/grassroots authoritarianism

authoritarianism by legitimate means

collective behaviorism

attributing agency/intention primarily to a group