World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

Barcelona, July 19th - 24th 2010

· NOT_DEFINED institution: University of Siena (Italy)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Paola Rivetti

· NOT_DEFINED language: English / Français

· NOT_DEFINED description: In the last years, the idea of «civil society» has gained an central place in international political culture and «neo gramscian» debate on counter-power and subalternity. The emersion of Post Washington Consensus as the international strategy for development has been followed by the imposition of a new model of governance («good governance») at the national level, which has been re-shaped and reinterpreted by local actors when passing from global to local context. «Feelgood» ideas associated with «civil society» or «good governance» (as participation, institutional accountability and democracy) may be used by local actors who emphasize the counter-power potentiality of the discourse on «civil society» (empowerment from below, alternative ways to development, and discourse of political contraposition). Yet at the same time, the «call for participation and civil society strengthening» can serve the process of institutional legitimation and improve the reputation of institutions. But what kind of relation does exist between power/counter-power dimensions? How can we map «counter-power activism»?Such dynamics will be investigated in the Iranian context. In particular, the research focuses on the role of associations and NGOs during Mohammad Khatami?s governments (1997-2005). Such a choice is motivated by the fact that Khatami?s executive terms have been characterized by the rhetoric of participation, empowerment of civil society and promotion of associations and NGOs. How do «civil society actors» (CSAs) react to such a political discourse? What about the State-society relation in this context? Which side of «civil society discourse» have Iranian associations and NGOs underlined? May we say that «civil society actors» have acted as counter-power agents in the Islamic Republic?I?ll try to find out the answers by questioning the empirical evidences collected during the fieldwork (1 year long, in 2005, 2007 and 2008). My theoretical framework and the adopted methodology come from a Foucaultian perspective, which pays a particular attention to the «exercise of power» (tecnologies de gouvernement and gouvernementalité) and from the idea that there are no clear boundaries to divide political actors (Karl Polanyi, Julie Elyachar, Béatrice Hibou). The research may shed some light on the elusiveness of the distinction between power and counter-power spheres: indeed, they share a common rhetoric and are composed by actors and organizations which are able to move through this boundary, as associations may do.