Paper short abstract:

Using Tilly’s ‘democratisation as process’, this paper analyses how a farmers’ cooperative and a research NGO have negotiated the neo-patrimonial context of Western Uganda to advance the interests of smallholders in the region.

Paper long abstract:

How to achieve democratisation in the neo-patrimonial and agrarian environments that predominate in sub-Saharan Africa continues to present a challenge for both development theory and practice. Drawing on intensive fieldwork in Western Uganda, this paper argues that Charles Tilly’s ‘democratisation as process’ provides us with an enabling framework to explain the ways in which particular kinds of association can advance democratisation from below. Moving beyond the current focus on how elite-bargaining and certain associational forms may contribute to liberal forms of democracy, this approach helps identify the intermediate mechanisms involved in building democracy from below, including challenging categorical inequalities, notably through the role of producer groups; contributing to the integration of segregated trust networks; and building cross-class alliances and synergistic relations between civil and political society. The research findings suggest routes for supporting local efforts to build democracy from below in sub-Saharan Africa.