Paper long abstract:

The paper will explore the logic(s) and representational strategies characterising what has been termed 'decentralised or de-concentrated governance' and 'civil society participation in development', which are in the process of taking form in Mozambique. Since the General Peace Accord of 1992, Mozambique has embarked on a protracted process of democratic decentralisation and civil society building. While Municipal Law 2 of 1997 made provision for elected local governments in only 33 urban municipalities, primarily the rural areas of Mozambique have, over the last six years and on a more general level, experimented with a variety of new forms of 'appointed' and '(s)elected' 'representational' governance that so far have been denied general, local franchise. As part of de-concentrating the central state's stranglehold over development planning and 'gradually' accustoming rural subjects/citizens to some kind of representational governance, two types of participatory distric!

t planning modalities have been institutionalised. On one hand, around 4,000 community authorities have been recognised since 2002 following the passing of Decree 15 of 2000. On the other hand, the 2001 Guide - later written into law as part of the regulation of the 2003 law for local state organs - has formally allowed for rural populations' participation in district planning and development.

Where Decree's community approach to representation establishes new sites for the production of citizen/subjects based on a local leader's representation of a territory-based community and not on the basis of the individual membership in the polis, the Guide promises the institutionalisation of a new type of radical representation where local communities 'choose' their representatives in a fine-grained web of representational development committees and participatory councils. The paper analyses how these new types of representation have been appropriated by local Frelimo and state officials - bringing into play a range of theoretical questions related to governmentality, civil society construction and sovereignty.