Empowerment as the Catalyst for Inclusive Institutions

Key Insight

The successful path to building inclusive political institutions, which underpin sustained prosperity, lies in the 'empowerment' of a broad cross-section of society. This involves distributing political power widely, moving away from systems where power is concentrated in a narrow elite. Historical examples like England's Glorious Revolution, which saw a broad coalition including merchants, gentry, and aristocracy unite against James II, illustrate how such empowerment can create pluralism, distinguishing these transformations from mere elite replacements that often result in equally or more repressive extractive institutions.

Brazil's experience from the 1970s onwards demonstrates a more gradual but equally effective process of empowerment. The Scânia truck factory strike, led by figures like Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ('Lula'), catalyzed a labor movement that merged with diverse social movements and opposition politicians to form the Workers' Party. This party, by winning local elections and introducing initiatives such as 'participatory budgeting' in Porto Alegre, fostered broad civic participation, leading to significant improvements in public services, a reduction in poverty (from 45 percent to 30 percent by 2006), and a sharp decline in inequality.

For empowerment to succeed, several factors are crucial: some degree of centralized order, pre-existing political institutions offering a modicum of pluralism, and robust civil society organizations capable of coordinating popular demands without succumbing to lawlessness or being co-opted. The media plays a vital role by disseminating information about economic and political abuses and coordinating collective action, as seen in historical revolutions and modern protests. However, authoritarian regimes often invest heavily in controlling media (e.g., Fujimori's Peru spending 9 million or 10 million to control TV stations) precisely to prevent such broad societal empowerment and maintain their extractive institutions.