Participatory authoritarianism: From bureaucratic transformation to civic participation in Russia and China
Owen, C
Date: 20 July 2020
Article
Journal
Review of International Studies
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP) for British International Studies Association
Publisher DOI
Abstract
This article explores the way in which Russian and Chinese governments have rearticulated
global trends towards active citizenship and participatory governance, and integrated them into preexisting illiberal political traditions. The concept of ‘participatory authoritarianism’ is proposed in order
to capture the resulting practices ...
This article explores the way in which Russian and Chinese governments have rearticulated
global trends towards active citizenship and participatory governance, and integrated them into preexisting illiberal political traditions. The concept of ‘participatory authoritarianism’ is proposed in order
to capture the resulting practices of local governance that, on the one hand enable citizens to engage
directly with local officials in the policy process, but limit, direct and control civic participation on the
other. The article explores the emergence of discourses of active citizenship at the national level and
the accompanying legislative development of government-organised participatory mechanisms,
demonstrating how the twin logics of openness and control, pluralism and monism, are built into their
rationale and implementation. It argues that as state bureaucracies have integrated into international
financial markets, so new participatory mechanisms have become more important for local governance
as government agencies have lost the monopoly of information for effective policy-making. Practices
of participatory authoritarianism enable governments to implement public sector reform while directing
increased civic agency into non-threatening channels.
Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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