The ‘Poverty’ of Political Society: Partha Chatterjee and the People's Plan Campaign in Kerala,India

Prominent postcolonial thinker Partha Chatterjee's concept of political society is an important one in understanding the vast domain of politics in the ‘Third World’ which falls outside hegemonic Western notions of the state and civil society. This domain, which is often marked by the stamp of illegality, nevertheless contributes to the immense democratic churning that characterises much of the ‘Third World’. However, this paper argues that the series of binaries set up by Chatterjee, like modernity/democracy, civil society/political society and the privileging of the latter half of the binary is ultimately counterproductive to the goal of democratisation. Based on empirical research on the People's Plan Campaign in Kerala, one of the most extensive democratic decentralisation programmes in the world, it will argue that the extension of popular sovereignty requires that we go beyond political society. The failures and prospects of the Plan and the struggles around it demonstrate clearly the breakdown of the binary.     

Understanding the organizational learning culture—Innovative behavior relation in local government: The roles of knowledge sharing and job autonomy

Drawing from research on organizational learning culture, knowledge sharing (KS), and job characteristics theory, this study investigates the mediating role of KS in the link between organizational learning culture (OLC) and employee's innovative behavior (IB), as well as how this mediating effect might be moderated by job autonomy (JA). Data captured from 1420 public employees of 33 local governments in South Korea shows that OLC affects employees' IB, while the effect size is reduced when controlling for the role of KS. Further, JA moderates the positive relationship between KS and IB, such that the relationship becomes invigorated at higher levels of JA. The findings also reveal that the indirect effect of OLC on IB through KS is more pronounced at higher levels of JA, which offers evidence of moderated mediation. We discuss the significant implications of our findings for future research and practice.     

The Struggle for Meaning of Obshchestvennyi Kontrol’ in Contemporary Russia: Civic Participation between Resistance and Compliance after the 2011–2012 Elections

This article explores contrasting conceptions of the essentially contested concept obshchestvennyi kontrol’, as understood by the anti-systemic opposition and the Kremlin. It shows that the period of contention accompanying the 2011–2012 elections allowed competing narratives of this concept to emerge. First, the opposition presented it as a means for citizens to hold corrupt authorities accountable to the law; second, the Kremlin promoted it as a means to enhance government efficiency. The article shows that the Kremlin has co-opted the counter-hegemonic discourse into a new law which delimits the possibilities for enacting this concept in a fashion that recalls Soviet governance practices.