Staging Politics: Power and Performance in Asia and Africa (International Library of Political Studies)
Staging Politics: Power and Performance in Asia and Africa (International Library of Political Studies) by Julia C. Strauss
English | 2007 | ISBN: 1845113675, 9781845113674 | 288 Pages | PDF | 12.42 MB
English | 2007 | ISBN: 1845113675, 9781845113674 | 288 Pages | PDF | 12.42 MB
This fresh and original study analyses how power presents itself in dramatic performance in these two increasingly economically and politically important continents. Emotion and politics play a hugely important role in the politics of Asia and Africa but, as this book sets out, too much of western political research into the subject concentrates on apparent deficiencies - on the weakness of institutions, defects in the bureaucracy or markets, poor management of elections, absent judicial autonomy. Viewing political performance through Western eyes in this way - where politics is primarily about the naked pursuit of power and interests - can lead to a misunderstanding of how politics actually works in Africa and Asia, where process plays a far more important role. Thus performance, drama and emotion are far more integral to political outcome there than in the West. By concentrating on this new perspective the authors, each a recognised specialist in one or more states in Asia and Africa, avoid this trap and offer a coherent picture of the impact political performance has on the culture and politics of these societies and how they function.