GEOG30019 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Sustainable Development, Metanarrative, Neoliberalism
6 Jun 2018
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LECTURE 9: POWER &
PARTICIPATION
• Neoliberalism has become part of the common-sense way we interpret, live in and understand
the world
o Paradigm, hegemonic, we don't notice it anymore
o Coproduction!!!
o Sustainable development fits within this paradigm
• SD goes against the way of the world currently and how we operate
Power
• Foucault: French philosopher, compares past torture with modern incarceration as forms of
control over others, power when really powerful doesn’t need a threat
• Countless definitions of power
o The ability to make people or a system do what they would otherwise not do
o Act of control over others
• Discipline controls people, and modern society
• No grand narrative, not intentional or coordinated from an elite group, rather everyone
benefits from system, which reinforces it
• CCTV disciplines people, as you never know if anyone is watching
• Power is about control of a system to such a minute degree that the outcomes of actions are
constrained and predetermined
• Internal power is more influential than external power - knowledge is power
• Normal governance: is normally softened through later inclusion of social, cultural and
economic factors, but the outcomes are often inevitable because decision makers have
identified the problem, determined what is needed and envisioned a solution prior to
involving stakeholders
o This form of participation, no matter how well intentioned, is the target of the co-
productionist critique
o Required: collaboration that breaks such constraints by incorporating stakeholders as
legitimate partners from the outset and throughout the process
Participation
• Participation is in SD policy - SDG's
• Participation began as a critique of top-down power, but has become hegemonic in itself
o Its just common sense - in a constrained, muted and bound way
• Why do participation?
o Publics have the right to inform decision making - in a democracy
o To test and contest how experts/elites frame an issue
o To break the influence of insular institutions
o Hold experts to changing cultural standards & expectations
o Disseminate expert knowledge more broadly & contribute to lay knowledge production -
called diffusion model - no evidence that it works
• How to do participation?
o Whether you adopt a full empowerment model of participation or a more controlled
version of power-sharing, the practices must be considered
• Should be driven by morals and ethics
o All methods can be used - its how you do it to create meaningful participation
o Meaningful engagement only occurs when it is considered in decision making
• Co-production model
