Claim-Making in Comparative Perspective

In this episode, we are joined by Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner to discuss her Cambridge Element, Claim-Making in Comparative Perspective: Everyday Citizenship Practice and Its Consequences, co-written with Janice Gallagher and Whitney Taylor. 

Gabi and Ellen explore how everyday claim-making strategies help citizens fulfill their rights. Gabi highlights that claim-making is often overlooked in political behavior studies, which usually focus on elections, mass protests, high court decisions, and legislative actions. This raises the question: What about the politics of the everyday? 

The Element and this interview address this question through research from Colombia, South Africa, India, and Mexico. Examples include families in Mexico seeking information about disappeared loved ones, citizens in rural India securing basic services like clean drinking water and education, and the fight for housing and healthcare rights in Colombia and South Africa. 

Despite different contexts, all these cases highlight the persistent, often mundane efforts of citizens engaging with bureaucrats and appointed officials to claim their rights.