Background Document - Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

INTRODUCTION
The growing discourse on deepening democracy around the world is increasingly being
anchored around democratic decentralisation and meaningful local governance
which is also being linked to greater social accountability and public participation. Governance
is not just about government, but is now seen as a much wider process that
involves how the idea of “public good” is both framed and contested – a process that
involves both private sector and civil society actors. 1
The idea of local politics rather than local government provides space to examine
how multiple actors – among them political parties – connect and contest for power
in the formal and informal local spaces in a scenario where local governments have to
increasingly live up to the expectation that they can indeed be responsive, accountable
and participatory.
If being participatory is one of the principles informing the call to decentralize it
follows that inclusion of women in local politics has to be ensured and actively encouraged
– through political parties, organisations, social movements, etc. Involvement of
women in local politics is critical for their political and economic empowerment.
LOCAL POLITICS
Local politics is intrinsically linked to the idea of the local community 2 whether in rural
or urban areas, which is increasingly being invested with some degree of local autonomy
across the world through a process of local self government. The local community
so empowered with the right of self government is then in a position to perform a series
of functions related to planning, development, service delivery, maintenance of local
assets such as schools, houses and streets et al.
In performing these functions it engages in decision making and governance for
promoting public good in the local area. Since what constitutes ‘public good’ is itself a
matter of contestation, the business of local government also becomes an arena where
local politics is played out, under the overarching principle of democracy. Like at the
national level, various aspects of a political process are in evidence at the level of local
politics such as local elections with or without direct party activity, and rise of and
changes in political participation by the local population.
There are different political phenomena around local autonomy and it can be noted
that local politics within local communities, the relationship between national politics
and local politics and the conflict and cooperation between central governments and
local governments are all significant points of departure for the study of local politics. 3
Though the question of autonomy is lined with local politics and it may be analytically
possible to study this as an isolated political space it is still necessary to pay attention
to the manner and extent to which local politics and government is guided by
the interventions of national politics and governments. The central-local relationship
theory or the inter-governmental relationship theory is the theoretical frameworks
that have developed these viewpoints systematically. 4
1 Tandon and Mohanty (2002).
2 Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
“The importance of women’s informal
community work also amounts to their
involvement in local politics.”
WOMEN IN POLITICS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY PAGE 24