Element contents
Claim-Making in Comparative Perspective
Everyday Citizenship Practice and Its Consequences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2024
Summary
Claim-making – the everyday strategies through which citizens pursue rights fulfilment – is often overlooked in studies of political behavior, which tend to focus on highly visible, pivotal moments: elections, mass protests, high court decisions, legislative decisions. But what of the politics of the everyday? This Element takes up this question, drawing together research from Colombia, South Africa, India, and Mexico. The authors argue that claim-making is a distinct form of citizenship practice characterized by its everyday nature, which is neither fully programmatic nor clientelistic; and which is prevalent in settings marked by gaps between the state's de jure commitments to rights and their de facto realization. Under these conditions, claim making is both meaningful (there are rights to be secured) and necessary (fulfillment is far from guaranteed). Claim-making of this kind is of critical consequence, both materially and politically, with the potential to shape how citizens engage (or disengage) the state.
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009028820Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 14 March 2024
References
Adhikari, A. (2023). Redeeming Right and Democratization of the Local State in India. Doctoral dissertation, Brown University.Google Scholar
Adhikari, A. and Heller, P. (2022). “Civil Society, the State and Institutionalizing Welfare Rights in India.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
African National Congress Constitutional Committee. (1990). A Bill of Rights for a New South Africa: A Working Document. Centre for Development Studies.Google Scholar
Alexander, J. and Fernandez, K. (2021). “The Impact of Neoliberalism on Civil Society and Nonprofit Advocacy.” Nonprofit Policy Forum 12(2): 367–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auerbach, A. M. and Kruks-Wisner, G. (2020). “The Geography of Citizenship Practice: How the Poor Engage the State in Rural and Urban India.” Perspectives on Politics 18(4): 1118–1134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auerbach, A. M. and Thachil, T. (2018). “How Clients Select Brokers: Competition and Choice in India’s Slums.” American Political Science Review, 112(4), 775–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auerbach, A. M. and Thachil, T. (2023). Migrants and Machine Politics. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Baldwin, K. (2016). The Paradox of Traditional Leaders in Democratic Africa. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baccaro, L. and Howell, C. (2017). Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, A. (2004). “Who Is Getting the Public Goods in India? Some Evidence and Some Speculation.” In India’s Emerging Economy. Edited by Basu, K.. MIT Press, 183–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, F. R. and Jones, B. D. (2002). Policy Dynamics. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
BBC News. (2019). “South Africa Elections: Has the ANC Built Enough Homes?” May 3, 2019, sec. Africa.Google Scholar
Bertorelli, E., Heller, P., Swaminathan, S., and Varshney, A. (2017). “Does Citizenship Abate Class? Evidence and Reflections from a South Indian City.” Economic and Political Weekly 52(32): 47–57.Google ScholarPubMed
Boulding, C., and Holzner, C. (2020). “Community Organizations and Latin America’s Poorest Citizens: Voting, Protesting, and Contacting Government.” Latin American Politics and Society 62(4): 98–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boulding, C., and Holzner, C. (2021). Voice and Inequality. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bøttkjær, L. and Justesen, M. K. (2021). “Why Do Voters Support Corrupt Politicians? Experimental Evidence from South Africa.” Journal of Politics 83(2): 788–793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinks, D. M. (2012). “The Transformation of the Latin American State-as-Law” Revista de Ciencia Política 32(3): 561–583.Google Scholar
Brinks, D. M., Gauri, V., and Shen, K. (2015). “Social Rights Constitutionalism: Negotiating the Tension Between the Universal and the Particular.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 11(1): 289–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bussell, J. (2012). Corruption and Reform in India. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A. (2012). “Policy Makes Mass Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science 15(1): 333–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlin, R. E., Castrellón, M., Gauri, V., Jaramillo Sierra, I. C., and Staton, J. K. (2022). “Public Reactions to Noncompliance with Judicial Orders.” American Political Science Review 116 (1): 265–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chipkin, I., Swilling, M., Bhorat, H, et al. (2018). Shadow State: The Politics of State Capture. Johannesburg: Wits University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, R. B., and Handlin, S. (2009). Reorganizing Popular Politics. Penn State Press.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, A. and Kapur, D. (2020). “The Political Economy of Bureaucratic Overload: Evidence from Rural Development Officials in India.” American Political Science Review 114(4): 1316–1334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Kadt, D. and Larreguy, H. A. (2018). “Agents of the Regime? Traditional Leaders and Electoral Politics in South Africa.” Journal of Politics 80(2): 382–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Mistro, R. and Hensher, D. A. (2009). “Upgrading Informal Settlements in South Africa: Policy, Rhetoric and What Residents Really Value.” Housing Studies 24(3): 333–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defensoría del Pueblo (2020). “La Tutela y los derecho a la salud y a la seguridad social, 2019.” On file with the authors. www.defensoria.gov.co/web/guest/-/la-tutela-y-los-derechos-a-la-salud-y-a-la-seguridad-social-14%C2%B0-edici%C3%B3n?p_l_back_url=%2Fweb%2Fguest%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dla%2Btutela%2By%2Blos%2Bderechos%2Ba%2Bla%2Bsalud%2B2019Google Scholar
Dimitrov, M. (2014). “Tracking Public Opinion under Authoritarianism.” Russian History 41(3): 329–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drèze, J. and Sen, A. (2013). An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dugard, J. (2015). “Closing the Doors of Justice: An Examination of the Constitutional Court’s Approach to Direct Access.” South African Journal on Human Rights 31(1): 112–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, T. (2009). “Direct Action and Associational Participation: Problem-Solving Repertoires of Individuals.” In Reorganizing Popular Politics. Edited by Collier, R. B. and Handlin, S.. Penn State University Press, 95–131.Google Scholar
Einstein, K. L., Glick, D. M, and Palmer, M. (2019). Neighborhood Defenders. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eulau, H. and Karps, P. D. (1977). “The Puzzle of Representation: Specifying Components of Responsiveness.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 2(3): 233–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, A. (2020). “Overcoming the Global Despondency Trap: Strengthening Corporate Accountability in Supply Chains.” Review of International Political Economy 27(3): 658–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, P. (1997). “The Eclipse of the State? Reflections on Stateness in an Era of Globalization.” World Politics 50(1): 62–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, J. (2015). “Social Accountability: What does the Evidence Really Say?” World Development 72: 346–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, J. K. (2017). “The Last Mile Problem: Activists, Advocates, and the Struggle for Justice in Domestic Courts.” Comparative Political Studies 50(12): 1666–1698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, M. E. (2006). “Mobilizing the Law in China: ‘Informed Disenchantment’ and the Development of Legal Consciousness.” Law & Society Review 40(4): 783–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, M. E. (2017). Authoritarian Legality in China. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galanter, M. (1974). “Why the ‘Haves’ Come out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change.” Law & Society Review 9(1): 95–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garay, C., Palmer-Rubin, B., and Poertner, M. (2020). “Organizational and Partisan Brokerage of Social Benefits: Social Policy Linkages in Mexico.” World Development 136, 105103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garay, C. (2016). Social Policy Expansion in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaventa, J. (2021). “Linking the Prepositions: Using Power Analysis to Inform Strategies for Social Action.” Journal of Political Power 14(1): 109–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Ocantos, E. A. (2016). Shifting Legal Visions. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, J. B. and Barclay, S. (2012). “Mind the Gap: The Place of Gap Studies in Sociolegal Scholarship.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 8(1): 323–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossman, G., and Slough, T. (2022). “Government Responsiveness in Developing Countries.” Annual Review of Political Science 25: 131–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, A. (2012). Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence, and Poverty in India. Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Gulzar, S. and Pasquale, B. (2017). “Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Development: Evidence from India.” American Political Science Review 111(1): 162–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, J. S. and Pierson, P. (2019). “Policy Feedback in an Age of Polarization.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 685(1): 8–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, P. (2013). Challenges and Opportunities Civil Society in a Globalizing World. New York:United Nations Development Programme.Google Scholar
Heller, P. (2019). “Divergent Trajectories of Democratic Deepening: Comparing Brazil, India, and South Africa.” Theory and Society 48(3): 351–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, P. Mukhopadhyay, P., Banda, S., & Sheikj, S. (2015). Exclusion, Informality, and Predation in the Cities of Delhi. Working Paper. New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research.Google Scholar
Heller, P., Swaminathan, S., and Varshney, A. (2023). “The Rich Have Peers, the Poor Have Patrons: Engaging the State in a South Indian City.” American Journal of Sociology 129(1): 76–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicken, A., and Nathan, N. L. (2020). Clientelism’s Red Herrings: Dead Ends and New Directions in the Study of Nonprogrammatic Politics. Annual Review of Political Science 23: 277–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, A. C. (2017). Forbearance as Redistribution. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honig, D. (2021). “Supportive Management Practice and Intrinsic Motivation go together in the Public Service.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118(13): 1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Houtzager, P. P., and Acharya, A. K. (2011). “Associations, Active Citizenship, and the Quality of Democracy in Brazil and Mexico.” Theory and Society 40: 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iversen, T. (2005). Capitalism, Democracy, and Welfare. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, R. and Manor, J. (2017). Politics and the Right to Work. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapiszewski, D., Levitsky, S., and Yashar, D. (2021). The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, H., and Wilkinson, S. (2007). Patrons, Clients and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krishna, A. (2011). “Gaining Access to Public Services and the Democratic State in India:Institutions in the Middle.” Studies in Comparative International Development 46 (1): 98–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krishna, A., Rains, E., and Wibbels, E. (2020). “Negotiating Informality–Ambiguity, Intermediation, and a Patchwork of Outcomes in Slums of Bengaluru.” The Journal of Development Studies 56(11): 1983–1999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruks-Wisner, G. (2018b). “The Pursuit of Social Welfare: Citizen Claim-making in Rural India.” World Politics 70(1): 122–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruks-Wisner, G. (2021). “Great Expectations, Great Grievances: The Politics of Citizens’ Complaints in India.” Comparative Politics 54(1): 27-49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruks-Wisner, G. (2022). “Social Brokerage: Accountability and the Social Life of Information.” Comparative Political Studies 55(14): 2382–2415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruks-Wisner, G. and Kumar, T. (2023). Voice and Response: Citizens and Bureaucrats at the Frontlines of Local Democracy. EGAP Registration.Google Scholar
Kumar, T. (2022). “Home Price Subsidies Increase Local-Level Political Participation in Urban India.” The Journal of Politics, 84(2), 831-845.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamprea, E. and García, J. (2016). “Closing the Gap between Formal and Material Health Care Coverage in Colombia.” Health and Human Rights Journal 18(2): 49–65.Google Scholar
Landau, D. (2010). “Political Institutions and Judicial Role in Comparative Constitutional Law.” Harvard International Law Journal 51: 319–378.Google Scholar
Landau, D. (2014). “Beyond Judicial Independence: The Construction of Judicial Power in Colombia.” doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Locke, R. M. and Thelen, K. (1995). “Apples and Oranges Revisited: Contextualized Comparisons and the Study of Comparative Labor Politics.” Politics & Society 23(3): 337–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lozano, R., Fullman, N., Mumford, J. E. et al. (2020). “Measuring Universal Health Coverage Based on an Index of Effective Coverage of Health Services in 204 Countries and Territories, 1990–2019.” The Lancet 396(10258): 1250–1284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lueders, H. (2021). “Electoral Responsiveness in Closed Autocracies: Evidence from Petitions in the Former German Democratic Republic.” American Political Science Review 116(3): 827–842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacLean, L. M. (2011). “State Retrenchment and the Exercise of Citizenship in Africa.” Comparative Political Studies 44(9): 1238–1266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mangla, A. (2015). “Bureaucratic Norms and State Capacity in India: Implementing Primary Education in the Himalayan Region.” Asian Survey 55(5): 882–908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, M. (1984). “The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms and Results.” European Journal of Sociology 25(2): 185–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maynard-Moody, S. and Musheno, M. (2000). “State Agent or Citizen Agent: Two Narratives of Discretion.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: J-PART 10(2): 329–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdam, D., Tarrow, S., and Tilly, C. (2001). Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCann, M. and Kahraman, F. (2021). “On the Interdependence of Liberal and Illiberal/Authoritarian Legal Forms in Racial Capitalist Regimes.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 17(1): 483–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merino, R. (2020). “The Cynical State: Forging Extractivism, Neoliberalism and Development in Governmental Spaces.” Third World Quarterly 41(1): 58–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mettler, S. and Soss, J. (2004). “The Consequences of Public Policy for Democratic Citizenship: Bridging Policy Studies and Mass Politics.” Perspectives on Politics 2(1): 55–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mettler, S. and Sorelle, M. (2018). “Policy Feedback Theory.” In Theories of the Policy Process. Edited by Weible, Christopher and Sabatier, Paula. Routledge, 103–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michelson, E. (2007). “Climbing the Dispute Pagoda: Grievances and Appeals to the Official Justice System in Rural China.” American Sociological Review 72(3): 459–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mooij, J. and Dev, M. (2004). “Social Sector Priorities: An Analysis of Budgets and Expenditures in India in the 1990s.” https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=513446.Google Scholar
Muralidharan, K., Niehaus, P., and Sukhtankar, S. (2023). “General Equilibrium Effects of (improving) Public Employment Programs: Experimental Evidence from India.” Econometrica 91(4): 1261–1295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murillo, V. M. (2000). “From Populism to Neoliberalism: Labor Unions and Market Reforms in Latin America.” World Politics 52(2): 135–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murtazashvili, J. (2016). Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Department of Human Settlements. (2017). “Annual Performance Plan 2017/2018.” On file with authors. https://www.dhs.gov.za/sites/default/files/annual_reports/DHS%20APP_2017-2018_ANNEX_G.pdfGoogle Scholar
Nayar, B. R. (2009). The Myth of the Shrinking State . Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Brien, K, and Li, L. (2006). Rightful Resistance in Rural China. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Donnell, G. (1993). “On the State, Democratization and Some Conceptual Problems.” World Development 21(8): 1355–1369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peruzzotti, E. and Smulovitz, C. (2006). Enforcing the Rule of Law. University of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, P. (1993). “When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change.” World Politics 45(4): 595–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pritchett, L. (2009). Is India a Flailing State?: Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization. Working Paper.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, K. (2021). “The Inclusionary Turn and Its Political Limitations.” In The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies. Edited by Kapiszewski, D., Levitsky, S., & Yashar, D. Cambridge University Press, 518–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, K (2022). “Temporal Distance, Reactive Sequences, and Institutional Legacies: Reflections on Latin America’s Neoliberal Critical Junctures.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Robinson, N. (2013). Complaining to the State: Grievance Redress and India’s Social Welfare Programs. Center for the Advanced Study of India.Google Scholar
Rodríguez Garavito, C. A. (2011). “Beyond the Courtroom: The Impact of Judicial Activism on Socioeconomic Rights in Latin America.” Texas Law Review 89: 1669–1698.Google Scholar
Scheppele, K. L. (2013). “The Rule of Law and the Frankenstate: Why Governance Checklists Do Not Work.” Governance 26(4): 559–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seekings, J. (2005). Prospects for Basic Income in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Welfare Regimes in the South. University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Simmons, E. (2014). “Grievances Do Matter in Mobilization.” Theory and Society 43(5): 513–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, E., and Smith, N. (2017). “Comparison with an Ethnographic Sensibility.” PS: Political Science & Politics 50(1): 126–130.Google Scholar
Singh, P. (2015). How Solidarity Works for Welfare. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI). (2020). “Adequate Temporary Alternative Accommodation.” https://www.seri-sa.org/images/Policy_brief_2_AA_Final.pdfGoogle Scholar
Soifer, H. and vom Hau, M. (2008). “Unpacking the Strength of the State: The Utility of State Infrastructural Power.” Studies in Comparative International Development 43(3): 219–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soss, J. and Schram, S. F. (2007). “A Public Transformed? Welfare Reform as Policy Feedback.” American Political Science Review 101(1): 111–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistics South Africa. (2016). “Community Survey 2016: Statistical Release.” http://cs2016.statssa.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NT-30-06-2016-RELEASE-for-CS-2016-_Statistical-releas_1-July-2016.pdf.Google Scholar
Statistics South Africa (2020). “General Household Survey 2020: Statistical Release.” www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182020.pdf.Google Scholar
Stokes, S., Dunning, T., Nazareno, M., and Brusco, V. (2013). Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sukhtankar, S. (2017). “India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: What Do We Really Know about the World’s Largest Workfare Program?” Brookings-NCAE India Policy Forum 13(1), 231–285.Google Scholar
Suttner, R. (2012). “The African National Congress Centenary: A Long and Difficult Journey.” International Affairs 88(4): 719–738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tait, K. (2021). Roadblocks to Access: Perceptions of Law and Socioeconomic Problems in South Africa. Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst.Google Scholar
Tait, K. and Taylor, W. K. (2023). “The Possibility of Rights Claim-Making in Court.” Law & Social Inquiry 48(3): 1023–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, W. K. (2018). “Ambivalent Legal Mobilization: Perceptions of Justice and the Use of the Tutela in Colombia.” Law & Society Review 52(2): 337–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, W. K. (2020a). “On the Social Construction of Legal Grievances: Evidence From Colombia and South Africa.” Comparative Political Studies 53(8): 1326–1356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, W. K. (2020b). “Constitutional Rights and Social Welfare: Exploring Claims-Making Practices in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Comparative Politics 53(1): 25–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, W. K. (2023a). The Social Constitution: Embedding Social Rights Through Legal Mobilization. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, W. K. (2023b) “Judicial Agency and the Adjudication of Social Rights.” Human Rights Quarterly 45(2): 283–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uprimny Yepes, R. (2006). “The Enforcement of Social Rights by the Colombian Constitutional Court: Cases and Debates.” In Courts and Social Transformation in New Democracies. Edited by Robrto Gargarella, R., Roux, T., & Domingo, P. Routledge, 127–152.Google Scholar
Uprimny Yepes, R., and Durán, J. (2014). “Equidad y protección judicial del derecho a la salud en Colombia.” 197 CEPAL – Serie Políticas Sociales 1–68.Google Scholar
Walter, A. (2018). Petitioning Saddam: Voices from the Iraqi Archives. In Russell, A. (ed.), Truth, Silence and Violence in Emerging States, 127–146. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitz-Shapiro, R. (2014). Curbing Clientelism in Argentina. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this element is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.