> Pardon my different point of view (Sam), but I simply see some appeal in subscribing to notions of "local collective action (David Korten),
Local colllective action is great. For example, if a neighborhood committe wants to get together to save a spawning stream from some developer who wants to turn the river bank into a parking lot, that's cool. But local action like many NGO's are very narrowly focused around 1 or 2 issues, so you end with 20 or 30 groups or NGO's working side by side without ever talking to one another. Seems to me that a task for left intellectuals is to unify these groups by stressing that their particular struggles are struggles in one way or another against capitalism. That ,believe it or not, these groups are engaged in anti-systemic struggle. I'm all for gay rights on the south side or saving the river otter, but its too narrow and not something I would dedicate my life to.
> power-knowledge discourse (Foucault), critical systems heuristic (Ulrich), and postmodern thought in general. All of these appeal to me if only for tendencies toward 'emancipatory knowledge' - a process of breaking through repressive and alienating modes of thinking and practice to accommodate "local and particular strugggles".
I haven't read much Foucault but it seems to me that he is most valuable as a historian and as a practioner of certain historical methodologies. ( genealogy and archaelogy). A great book combining Foucaultian methodology with good old political economy is _Free Trade. Neither Free or about Trade_ by Christopher Hibbert. What is emancipatory knowledge? I have great difficulty in just figuring out what ordinary knowledge is. I have had success ( or would like to think so) with breaking through repressive and alienating modes of thinking with good old fashioned common sense and logic.
> The countervailing demands of different actors vis-à-vis NGOs can never be explained by such mere emphasis on global power as an area of domination but likewise of resistance. Now more than ever, the micro-actors (grassroots organizations) are able to articulate, employ, direct, and implement courses of action in relation to traditional sources of influence. Chambers speaks of "enabling and empowering poor clients and discuss the need for service organizations to see clients know their rights and have power !
> to demand them, enabling them to ensure quality of service and access." Uphoff expounds on local institutional development to illustrate the depth and breath of empowerment that is realized within networks of cooperation. Escobar further talks about alternate rationalities i.e., arenas of struggle that are away from fatalistic and reductionistic ways of thinking.
Thinking does not change the world, praxis does. Check out the Theses on Feurbach by Karl Marx. Alternate rationalities? Yikes!
> The proliferation of discourses towards people-centered development, in diverse and radical forms, have recently captured the interests of planners and practitioners who are in constant search for innovative systems designs and attendant practical approaches to development.
and in constant search of ways to dilute class struggle and anti-systemic action.
Sam Pawlett