Decaf empowerment? Post-Washington Consensus development policy, Fair Trade and Kenya's coffee industry

Pflaeger, Zoe Alexandra (2011). Decaf empowerment? Post-Washington Consensus development policy, Fair Trade and Kenya's coffee industry. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Pflaeger11PhD.pdf PDF Restricted to Repository staff only until 20 June 2025. Download (1MB)

Abstract

This thesis seeks to make a contribution to the debate concerning the adoption of the language of empowerment and participation into Post-Washington Consensus development policy. Whilst it is acknowledged that the de-politicisation approach makes some valid contributions, it is argued that it suffers from a tendency to focus on the construction of development discourse. This has rather one-sidely led to the conclusion that the concept of empowerment has been used as an instrument of subjection. It is argued that the transformation approach offers a more nuanced analysis of participatory development practices that seeks to identify the opportunities that exist for their re-politicisation. Accordingly, the concept of empowerment should instead be examined as part of an ongoing political struggle to construct meaning and to harness action towards progressive political goals. This thesis makes a theoretical contribution to this debate by extending and consolidating the transformation approach through neo-Gramscian theory. Through its analysis of Fair Trade in the Kenyan coffee industry, it provides further empirical substantiation for the transformation approach. Whilst acknowledging the limitations of the World Bank’s approach to empowerment, this research identifies the opportunities and possibilities that exist for reasserting an alternative approach to producer empowerment based on the more radical notions of critical consciousness and collective social action. Given the highly unequal power relations that characterise the global coffee industry, this supports the argument put forward by the transformation approach that participatory development needs to explicitly engage with the wider power structures and institutions that perpetuate exclusion and inequality.

Type of Work:	Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)
Award Type:	Doctorates > Ph.D.
Licence:
College/Faculty:	Colleges (2008 onwards) > College of Social Sciences
School or Department:	School of Government and Society, Department of Political Science and International Studies
Funders:	None/not applicable
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
URI:	http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/1669

Actions

	Request a Correction
	View Item

Downloads