ABSTRACT
Having made the case for the need to engender politics and public life at a range of levels in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 moves on to explore how this can be done. Drawing in particular from the work of the ‘difference democrats’, together with insights from post-structural theories of power and democracy more broadly, the chapter develops an analytical framework which is employed throughout the remaining chapters in the book to analyse the different case studies presented and to draw practical lessons on how political engagement within them can be engendered. The ‘4W Framework’ developed in this chapter focuses on the four key questions of where politics takes place (spaces), who is involved (actors, inclusion and representation), the ways in which they are involved (discourses and frames, practices, norms and behaviours) and what development issues are included (standpoints, interests, perspectives and framing). This chapter also employs post-structural theories of power to critically analyse power relations in the deployment of the ever popular and near-ubiquitous projects of ‘empowerment’ and ‘capacity building’ in development programming and practice.
