Technologies, infrastructures and migrations: material citizenship politics

This article aims to explore the multiple uses and consequences of different technologies and infrastructures in the context of migrations and how such uses and consequences inhabit and transform migrants’ rights and subjectivities. It reviews relevant literature at the intersection of citizenship, critical migration studies and science and technology studies (STS), focusing in particular on the current debates underway within critical citizenship studies that examine how technologies and infrastructures shape the ability to acts of citizenship. By mobilizing insights from STS, we focus on how these political subjectivities are shaped by certain sociomaterial and epistemic practices. By introducing the notion of material citizenship politics, the article outlines a way to differentiate three different constitutive forms between technologies, infrastructures and citizenship in migrations. Technologies and infrastructures can (1) constrain acts of citizenship in migration and border regimes; (2) constitute contestation and participation over citizenship; or (3) enable and shape alternative acts of citizenship in migration and border regimes. As it provides a theoretical background to the special issue, the article also serves as the introduction to the issue.This work has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Consolidation grant, agreement No. [648608]), within the project `EXCHANGE -Forensic geneticists and the transnational exchange of DNA data in the EU: Engaging science with social control, citizenship and democracy', led by Helena Machado and hosted at the Institute for Social Sciences of at the University of Minho, Portugal. Furthermore, this work is funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT/MEC) through national funds within the scope of the CES-SOC/UID/50012/2020 Strategic Project

Gandhi and AAP: Decentralisation and Swaraj against Political-Colonialism

Elections represent the central participatory moment in liberal democracy. By voting in elections, voters provide political legitimacy to the political elite to take decisions for the whole society. The result is the centralisation of power in the elite and the submission of wider society. Such an outcome is one of the limits of representative democracy and corresponds to what is here defined as ‘political-colonialism’. In order to ‘democratise democracy’, which include the combination of representative democracy with participatory practices, decentralisation may be a method able to counteract to politicalcolonialism by providing space for power and leadership sharing and by increasing social participation in the political sphere. The Mahatma Gandhi has developed a multicentre idea of democracy based on 700.000 Indian village republics. He used the word ‘Swaraj’ (self-rule) to characterise this model. The Aam Aadmi Party today advocates Swaraj for villages and cites. This paper aims at exploring the idea and existing empirical cases of Swaraj and decentralised democracy in India.As eleições representam o momento participativo central na democracia liberal. Ao votar nas eleições, os eleitores fornecem legitimidade política para a elite política de tomar decisões para toda a sociedade. O resultado é a centralização do poder na elite e a submissão da sociedade em geral. Tal resultado é um dos limites da democracia representativa e corresponde ao que é aqui definido como “colonialismo político”. A fim de “democratizar a democracia”, que incluem a combinação da democracia representativa com práticas participativas, a descentralização pode ser um método capaz de contrariar a o colonialismo politico, fornecendo espaço de poder e de partilha de liderança e aumentando a participação social na esfera política. O Mahatma Gandhi desenvolveu uma ideia multicêntrica de democracia baseada em 700.000 repúblicas indianas da aldeia. Ele usou a palavra ‘Swaraj’ (auto-governo) para caracterizar este modelo. O Aam Aadmi Party hoje defende Swaraj para as aldeias e as cidades. Este trabalho tem por objectivo explorar a ideia e os casos empíricos existente de Swaraj e democracia descentralizada na Índia

Populism, a Thread and a Chance. Between Demagogy and Participation

This paper inquiries into the concept of populism from a sociological perspective. This is done by highlighting the unstable co-presence of demagogy and participation through an intercultural analysis of the European and the Indian discursive approach and its construction of popular politics. The underlying understanding is that the concept is misrepresented by the equation of populisms with demagogy. The paper therefore builds on “participatory populism” to promote the expansion, rather than contraction, of the term’s ambiguity. The analysis accounts for the emergence of populisms as subaltern politics that are unable to subvert the political status quo but are able to enhance it morally. The study starts by problematizing the concept’s historical double movement that is at the basis of its demagogic and participatory features, then it focuses on populism as a signifier reinforced by the impasse between the two pillars of liberal democracy. Furthermore, by critically building on Laclau’s position, its social discursive formation is investigated. Chatterjee’s “political society” and the party-movements (the Aam Aadmi Party and the Movimento 5 Stelle) are two contradictory cases that are proposed to exercise an expansion of the concept

Social movements and academia for the de/postcolonial heritage discourse

7th Afroeuropeans Network Conference: Black In/Visibilities Contested, 4-6 July 2019, Lisbo

Démocratiser au-delà de la crise du libéralisme: mener la société civile vers l’État

Philosophers, sociologists and political scientists may analyse political crises by looking at the relationship between the liberal and democratic pillars of liberal-democratic regimes. Social questioning of representation (abstention, apathy and protest) is a democratic response to the failure of the liberal pillar to democratise access to political power, therefore, the crisis of liberalism. M. K. Gandhi developed an alternative theory based on intercultural perspectives and on local, ethical communities. Through Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ “epistemologies of the South”, this article analyses how Gandhi’s work can be mobilised to foster democratisation theory. The study contends that to overcome the crises, democratisation of the liberal pillar is both paramount and achievable with a new interplay of the state and civil society.Os filósofos, sociólogos e cientistas políticos podem estudar as crises políticas através da análise da relação entre os pilares liberais e democráticos dos regimes democráticos liberais. O questionamento social da representação (abstenção, apatia e protesto) é uma resposta democrática ao fracasso do pilar liberal em democratizar o acesso ao poder político, e daí a crise do liberalismo. M. K. Gandhi desenvolveu uma teoria alternativa baseada em perspetivas interculturais e em comunidades éticas locais. Sob a perspectiva das “epistemologias do Sul” de Boaventura de Sousa Santos, este artigo analisa a forma como o trabalho de Gandhi pode ser mobilizado para promover a teoria da democratização. O estudo defende que, para superar as crises, a democratização do pilar liberal é não só essencial, como concretizável através de uma nova interação entre Estado e sociedade civil.Les philosophes, sociologues et scientifiques politiques peuvent étudier les crises politiques par le truchement de l’analyse de la relation entre les piliers libéraux et démocratiques des régimes démocratiques libéraux. Le questionnement social de la représentation (abstention, apathie et protestation) est une réponse démocratique à l’échec du pilier libéral de démocratisation de l’accès au pouvoir politique, et dès lors, à la crise du libéralisme. M. K. Gandhi a développé une théorie alternative reposant sur des perspectives interculturelles et sur des communautés éthiques locales. Partant de la perspective des “épistémologies du Sud” de Boaventura de Sousa Santos, cet article cherche à savoir comment le travail de Gandhi peut être mobilisé en sorte à promouvoir la théorie de la démocratisation. L’étude défend que, pour dépasser les crises, la démocratisation du pilier libéral est non seulement essentielle mais qu’elle peut être concrétisée grâce à une nouvelle interaction entre l’État et la société civile

Political Parties and Participative Approaches to Democracy

Representative democracy is currenty facing strong social criticism for its incapacity to envolve people in a way that makes them part of the decision-making process. An existing gap between the representatives and the represented is hereby emphasized. In this space, the role of political parties is central in order to bridge society with institutions. How much are parties concerned about this issue? How and in which context do they interact more with their electorate and the wider society? Participatory democracy is emerging throughout the world in different forms and with different results, but the dominant pattern of democracy remains the liberal western democratic paradigm in which people can contribute barely through electing candidates. In order to achieve what Boaventura de Sousa Santos calls ‘democratisation of democracy’ the role of political parties is therefore fundamental in particular to achieve a more participative democracy within the representative model. This article approaches this theme through a bibliographic review comparing social movements and political parties with a focus on the innovation of the Five Star Movement in Italy. Finally, it provides a reading of the relationship between political parties andparticipation, including good practice and perspectives

Per una filosofia della migrazione fondata sulla soggettività dialogica

Emilio Baccarini defi nisce il fi losofo come «l’esperto dell’universale e del necessario, o anche dell’immutabile» perché «compito della fi losofi a è la ricerca della genesi, ricerca delle motivazioni intenzionali nascoste che costituiscono il senso». È compito della filosofi a rivelare l’“epifania”, dare senso al mondo, il che comporta «vivere desti nella presenza di sé a sé», perché essa è una «archeologia» nella «lotta per il senso dell’umanità». Il fi losofo cerca il senso generale nel senso originario, valido al di là dell’esperienza diretta, ma che senza la quale non troverebbe espressione. Quest’approccio fenomenologico basato sull’esperienza del fi losofo è di per sé travagliato, una ricerca metodologica alle radici della conoscenza che coinvolge la propria esperienza del mondo e svela quindi un lato empirico, oltre che teorico, della filosofia. Tuttavia il fi losofo, per Baccarini, non si espone all’esperienza del mondo in modo solipsistico, egli si propone a partire dalla «soggettività dialogica» quale ricerca ontologica e al contempo morale e, come vedremo, socio-politica in quanto ontologia della solidarietà. In queste pagine evidenziamo lo spirito “epifanicamente” sociale e politico, in quanto interculturale – e pertanto genuinamente cosmopolita – della fi losofi a relazionale proposta. A partire dalla filosofi a di Baccarini intendiamo contribuire alla defi nizione della «filosofi a della migrazione» che, come ha sottolineato Donatella Di Cesare, è un campo del sapere del tutto inedito, o quasi. Intendiamo contribuire a quest’impresa attraverso un’apertura critica all’alterità basata sull’antropologia dialogica e attraverso un approccio postcoloniale che è l’elemento maggiormente defi citario nel pregevole contributo di Di Cesare. Questa scelta è necessaria perché la persona migrante (possibilmente in fuga dall’oppressione sociale, politica ed economica) è identifi cabile con quella colonizzata e quindi gli strumenti postcoloniali sono di fondamentale aiuto per far avanzare la ricerca filosofica