Created for Leaders of United Workers Campaigns An Overview of John Gaventa’s Powercube Part 2 Spaces: Closed, Invited, Claimed/Self-Created Created for Leaders of United Workers Campaigns

Spaces In the Power Cube approach... spaces refer to decision making arenas and forums for action, but they can also include other 'spaces' that are seen as opportunities, moments and channels where citizens can act to potentially affect policies, discourses, decisions and relationships which affect their lives and interests.” -- Gaventa, p. 15

In this sense, participation as freedom is not only the right to participate effectively in a given space, but the right to define and to shape that space” --Gaventa, p. 15

Closed Spaces “Closed spaces are where elites such as politicians, bureaucrats, experts, bosses, managers and leaders make decisions with little broad consultation or involvement….Closed spaces often involve issues like trade, macro economic and finance policies, military policies, etc. which have a great deal of impact on peoples‘ lives but which are considered off-limits for public participation.” -- Gaventa, p. 15-16

Strategies for opening Closed Spaces “Strategies to open up closed spaces often focus on greater transparency, rights to information and disclosure and public accountability for what goes on behind closed doors. They also may demand opportunities to have greater voice and to be consulted by other decision-makers, or to be at the table with them” (pg 16).

How has UW opened closed spaces through campaigns? Discussion Point: How has UW opened closed spaces through campaigns?

Invited Spaces -- Gaventa, p. 16 “In many societies and governments, demands for participation have created new opportunities for involvement and consultation, usually through invitation‘ from various authorities, be they government, supranational agencies or non-governmental organizations” -- Gaventa, p. 16

Strategies for Gaining Inclusion into Invited Spaces: “Strategies to strengthen participation in invited spaces include gaining knowledge and expertise on key issues and regulations, and learning the arts of public speaking, negotiating and compromise. For many previously excluded groups, who have been used to demanding that closed spaces be opened up, or participation in their own claimed spaces, this may require new skills” (pg. 16)

Discussion Points: How has UW won invitation to invited spaces? What spaces are we in that we were invited to?

Claimed, Self-Created Spaces “These spaces range from ones created by social movements and community associations, to those simply involving natural places where people gather to debate, discuss and resist, outside of the institutionalised policy arenas.” --Gaventa, p. 16 Who creates the space is critical to who participates in it. Those who create it are more likely to have power within it, and those who have power in one space, may not have so much in another” --Gaventa, p. 17

Discussion Points: What spaces in UW or in our communities are claimed or self-created spaces?

Key United Workers Values & Concepts It is important to look not only at what spaces for engagement exist, but also at what goes on inside them? What is the quality of participation? Who gets to speak? How much influence do they have?

What are the micro-dynamics of participation within the space What are the micro-dynamics of participation within the space? Here, a number of factors of power may play a role – be they dynamics around [race], gender, age, expertise or others that give some voices more influence than others. Just because a space is present, doesn‘t mean that it will be filled equally with all voices!” Gaventa, p. 16-17

Discussion Points: Where would the mayor or CEO of a big company have less power – what spaces would they include potentially? …… So, for the student of power, to ask 'who governs?‘, also necessitates asking, ‘in which space?‘ (Gaventa, p 17)

There is fluidity of these different spaces with motion coming from top and the grassroots: “We must also remember that these spaces exist in dynamic relationship to one another, and are constantly opening and closing through struggles for legitimacy and resistance, cooptation and transformation. Closed spaces which are being challenged may seek to restore legitimacy by creating invited spaces; similarly, invited spaces may be created from the other direction, as more autonomous people‘s movements attempt to use their own fora for engagement with the state.” --Gaventa, p. 17

“Research shows that ‘invited spaces‘ must be held open by ongoing demands of social movements, and that more autonomous spaces of participation are important for new demands to develop and to grow.” -- Gaventa, p. 18

Spaces should be seen as a continuum: “the ‘spaces‘ dimension of the power cube may be thought of as a spectrum, ranging from closed spaces in which powerless groups or individuals have little rights or voice, to more open spaces, which are created by relatively powerless groups themselves. Sometimes even the created spaces may also be ones that are created as forms or places of resistance from powerful actors, and may also be made hidden or invisible to them.” --Gaventa, p. 19