LASA/EANLAS: Rethinking Trans-Pacific Ties: Asia and Latin America

‘Players in the shadows’: Violent Politics, Electoral Competition and Democratisation – Comparing India and Colombia

• In Event: Comparative Politics between Asia and LAC

Abstract

The ‘people in the shadows’ are political actors located at the margins of the ‘normal’ political space. How a political system deals with them has significant implications for transition to democracy and its consolidation, particularly in the context of changing societies. Asymmetries in wealth and power, exclusionary economic and political practices and non-compliance with rules laid down by the regime or powerful corporations might push some citizens – completely or partially – beyond the ken of political competition of which electoral particupation is the chief avenue. How to handle such ‘people in the shadows’ – lower classes, ‘untouchables’, tribal groups, minorities – which take to illegal modes of action in order to protect their living space and livelihood, is an important issue for the keepers of law and order, and for constitutional designers, keen on enhancing legitimacy. Through a combined strategy of ‘structure’ (strategic reform) and ‘agency’ (truning rebels into stakeholders), India’s post-colonial state has successfully inducted many opposition movements and insurgencies into the electoral arena, evenutally leading some to political office. Our new perspective on ‘illegal and semi-legal’ political actor, inspired by the concept of ‘useful illegality’ of Niklas Luhmann and the neo-institutional dynamic model of strategic reform and implementation (Mitra 2005) will shed light on specific differences regarding building democracies and shaping the compostion of the ruling elite.

Authors

• Subrata K Mitra, Heidelberg University

• Nicolás Jaramillo, Heidelberg University