USA Africa Dialogue Series - What is political voice, why does it matter, and how can it bring about change?

The past two decades have seen an explosion of political voice across the developing world. From the shift towards democracy in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the mushrooming of citizen-led initiatives to hold those in power to account, to the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, and the eruption of protest movements in countries as diverse as Brazil, Egypt, India, and Turkey, we now have a wealth of experience we can use to reimagine the role of engaged populations in political processes and to redefine the very substance of democracy.

But political voice is not just about ‘polite debate’. It has often been, as Frances Stewart reminds us, channelled in ways that are more contentious, disruptive – and even violent. The proliferation of protests, uprisings, and social mobilisation worldwide in recent years, in settings that include established democracies (the ‘Occupy’ movements in the US, the UK and beyond), more recently democratised upper middle-income countries (Brazil, India, Turkey), and countries that are going through major transformations (those in the Middle East and north Africa, Venezuela), reflects profound dissatisfaction with the quality of democratic representation.