Blurring the boundaries: citizen action across states and societies

• The Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability

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17 June 2011Researchers from the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability spent a decade working with citizens from around the world who are taking action to sway the institutions that affect their lives.

The researchers were led to dozens of local associations: cooperatives, women’s groups, religious assemblies, and other civic organisations. They visited the offices of movements and networks that are pressing national governments and international actors for change on their behalf. They observed the public forums where the state has invited citizens to voice their concerns and interests, discuss solutions and collaborate - an array of participatory arenas such as health councils, local legislative bodies and policy forums. A simple yet important discovery was made in the process. The most effective citizens are the most versatile: the ones who can cross boundaries. They move between the local, the national and the global, employ a range of techniques, act as allies and adversaries of the state, and deploy their skills of protest and partnership at key moments and in different institutional entry points.