dc.contributor.advisor |
Park, J |
en |
dc.contributor.advisor |
Shore, C |
en |
dc.contributor.author |
Scott, Kathryn |
en |
dc.date.accessioned |
2013-08-09T01:59:52Z |
en |
dc.date.issued |
2013 |
en |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/2292/20680 |
en |
dc.description.abstract |
How voluntary associations in New Zealand have acted collectively to influence policy development and implementation is the topic of this anthropological enquiry. The thesis is informed by detailed ethnographic research with two voluntary associations, including interviews, participant observation, a questionnaire, focus groups, and document and media reviews. Besides tracing the genealogy of two voluntary associations engaged in collective action that their members believed had effective influence, I assess the extent to which their actions produced democratic effects and social justice. ‘TIES’, an urban community leadership group, emerged in 2008 to contest and successfully shape important aspects of a local urban renewal process in Tāmaki, Auckland. This influence was fragile and fleeting, but in the process of coming together to act in concert, TIES created alternative visions for local democracy that are more enduring than the group itself. The Haemophilia Foundation of New Zealand successfully negotiated a groundbreaking national governance structure for haemophilia care, resulting in regionally equitable standards of care. Despite running counter to neoliberal preferences for competitive, regionalised health structures, this nationalised structure is now being replicated for other high-cost conditions. These associations strategically reversed governmental techniques to exert influence, turning the concepts of ‘inclusion’ and ‘participation’ back on the state, and attaching different meanings and practices to these concepts. Rather than as elite interest groups seeking certain concessions or financial resources, the associations acted collectively to change the very architecture of decision making. In this way they successfully contested fundamental elements of neoliberalism such as decentralisation of decision making and the competitive market model. In distinguishing between voluntary associations and interest groups, it is my purpose to highlight that these associations shaped the procedural aspects of democracy. I examine the temporal and spatial elements of their collective action to show how they successfully managed to work “the spaces (and beyond) of neoliberalism” (Larner and Craig 2005:11). This thesis offers insights into how local actors can create innovations in governance that provide new spaces of negotiation in political decision-making. Key words: voluntary associations, democracy, collective action, neoliberalism, policy, anthropology |
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dc.publisher |
ResearchSpace@Auckland |
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dc.relation.ispartof |
PhD Thesis - University of Auckland |
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dc.rights |
Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. |
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dc.rights.uri |
https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm |
en |
dc.rights.uri |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/nz/ |
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dc.title |
The politics of influence: An anthropological analysis of collective political action in contemporary democracy |
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dc.type |
Thesis |
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thesis.degree.grantor |
The University of Auckland |
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thesis.degree.level |
Doctoral |
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thesis.degree.name |
PhD |
en |
dc.rights.holder |
Copyright: The Author |
en |
pubs.author-url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2292/20680 |
en |
dc.rights.accessrights |
http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess |
en |
pubs.elements-id |
405299 |
en |
pubs.record-created-at-source-date |
2013-08-09 |
en |
dc.identifier.wikidata |
Q112903971 |
|