Repertoires of the Possible: Citizen Action in Challenging Settings

Abstract

AbstractHow do citizens organise and act to make claims against and contend with authorities in places where formal democracy is undermined by authoritarian histories and practices? What do these actions add up to? In this article, we draw on five years of research from the Action for Empowerment and Accountability research programme, which focused on four such contexts; Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria and Pakistan. Adopting what we term a ‘citizen-eye’ view of social and political action we distinguish between the dynamics and expressions of citizen action that are more visible and those that are more hidden. Doing so shows a number of critical constraints that citizens must contend with. Despite these constraints, a range of more and less visible forms of action are clear. While the most obvious outcomes don’t suggest major shifts in the status quo, we argue that those less visible could be important seeds for change.