Claim-Making in Comparative Perspective

Between elections and beyond movements, everyday citizen claim-making seeks to bridge gaps between the promises and actions of the state.

This Element focuses on everyday claim-making by drawing together bodies of research in and with different communities. The authors argue that claim-making is a form of citizenship practice, that is prevalent in uneven and unequal settings, and it is of critical consequence.Claim-making – the everyday strategies through which citizens pursue rights fulfilment – is often overlooked in studies of political behavior, which tend to focus on highly visible, pivotal moments: elections, mass protests, high court decisions, legislative decisions. But what of the politics of the everyday? This Element takes up this question, drawing together research from Colombia, South Africa, India, and Mexico. The authors argue that claim-making is a distinct form of citizenship practice characterized by its everyday nature, which is neither fully programmatic nor clientelistic; and which is prevalent in settings marked by gaps between the state's de jure commitments to rights and their de facto realization. Under these conditions, claim making is both meaningful (there are rights to be secured) and necessary (fulfillment is far from guaranteed). Claim-making of this kind is of critical consequence, both materially and politically, with the potential to shape how citizens engage (or disengage) the state.