Description of Project Components and Methodology

This project will study all attempts at state reform from the 1984 Annexure C document to the present, including extra-constitutional means such as sub-committees established post-2002 ceasefire.  As ICES envisions it, the study will have two parts. The first part will focus on elite politics, i.e. politics at the level of the state and so-called “civil society”. The second component will analyze perceptions and dynamics of each effort at state reform or conflict resolution at the level of subaltern politics, or the “grassroots” level, of the individual citizen who may indeed be politically active, but who is usually removed from the elite workings of the state or civil society.

In examining these two levels of politics, ICES has identified a number of key issues that we would like to unpack and explore in further detail.  One of these issues is the concept of ‘political will’, i.e. what does the concept of political will actually mean?  Understanding this concept, we feel, is crucial for understanding elite politics itself. Another question that comes to mind is how politicians visualize their own role vis-à-vis their constituency. Their self-perceptions and actions will be situated within the framework of party politics, re-election etc, i.e. incentive structures, and the constraints imposed by these factors upon their support for, and engagement with state reform processes will be studied. On the flipside, the project will aim to study what may be called the ‘expectation gap’, i.e. what do the people actually expect from their leaders? This is another crucial issue that ICES feels needs to be explored at the subaltern level as it is often taken for granted that the “elite” know what the people expect from the state. These and other critical issues will form the underlining impetus of the research as a means of bringing to light some of the nuances that often escape analysis on state reform when a top down approach is utilised.

Because of the two-track approach of the project – analysis at both the “elite” and “subaltern” levels – a number of different methodologies will be used. At the ‘elite’ level analysis will include literature reviews, media reviews, political campaign studies and interviews with key individuals. At the ‘subaltern’ level of analysis, a number of lines of inquiry will be used and will include literature reviews, national survey and interviews. ICES feels that it would be valuable to conduct a comprehensive national survey, i.e. a countrywide (eight provinces-northeastern province will be dependent on conflict situation), questionnaire based survey (5000 respondents) which will contain questions aimed at ascertaining public perception about past attempts at state reform, the impact of implemented reforms, respondents’ views on expectations and needs etc. An internal meeting with experts will be held to formulate the framework of the questionnaire. After the questionnaire has been formulated a second internal meeting with experts will be convened to evaluate/finalize the questionnaire prior to the commencement of the survey.  

It is expected this will help ascertain where gaps have occurred in policy intervention, ‘elite’ knowledge base on ‘subaltern’ needs and perceptions, where strategy failed to consider realities, and where top-down approaches missed out large swathes of the population. This will be followed by stakeholder feedback workshops where survey/research results will be presented for discussion and validation. A workshop will also be held to present project findings to key policymakers and stakeholders.  Three to four months after this workshop a further meeting with policy makers and civil society actors will be held with the purpose of ascertaining shifts in perceptions/strategies/understanding of issues etc. This will be done through discussion as well as questionnaires. Furthermore, during the same time period ICES will undertake a mini-study which will analyze statements, public documents and actions of the key policy makers both who were participants and others, and their institutions (for example, the Peace Secretariat) to gauge shifts in conceptualizing their own positions on/engagement with, state reform processes.

As illustrated by the above section the ICES projects intends to undertake a dual theoretical-empirical approach to the issue, at both the elite and subaltern levels. Hence the project will frame research questions that focus on the broader issue of state reform rather than limit research to narrow questions on particular issues, such as devolution. Furthermore, the project will gain a critical understanding of structural causes and mindset behind past failures. Coupled with the unique subaltern focus, ICES feels this project will explore new issues and aim to build an original body of work that will help shape policy.