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Building Democracy from Below: Lessons from Western Uganda

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  • Sophie King
  • Sam Hickey

Abstract

How to achieve democratisation in the neo-patrimonial and agrarian environments that predominate in sub-Saharan Africa continues to present a challenge for both development theory and practice. Drawing on intensive fieldwork in Western Uganda, this paper argues that Charles Tilly’s ‘democratisation as process’ provides us with the framework required to explain the ways in which particular kinds of association can advance democratisation from below. Moving beyond the current focus on how elite-bargaining and certain associational forms may contribute to liberal forms of democracy, this approach helps identify the intermediate mechanisms involved in building democracy from below, including the significance of challenging categorical inequalities, notably through the role of producer groups, and of building trust networks, cross-class alliances and synergistic relations between civil and political society. The evidence and mode of analysis deployed here help suggest alternative routes for supporting local efforts to build democracy from below in sub-Saharan Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie King & Sam Hickey, 2017. "Building Democracy from Below: Lessons from Western Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(10), pages 1584-1599, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:53:y:2017:i:10:p:1584-1599
    DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2016.1214719
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    Cited by:

    1. Rachel Sabates-Wheeler & Nikhil Wilmink & Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai & Richard de Groot & Tayllor Spadafora, 2020. "Linking Social Rights to Active Citizenship for the Most Vulnerable: the Role of Rights and Accountability in the ‘Making’ and ‘Shaping’ of Social Protection," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(1), pages 129-151, January.
    2. Brett, E.A., 2022. "Rebuilding public authority in Uganda dualist theory, hybrid social orders and democratic statehood," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).

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