Beyond Transformation and Regulation: Productive Tensions and the Analytics of Inclusion

Abstract

The inclusion of marginal groups is increasingly becoming part of contemporary governance. Critical appraisals categorize inclusionary mechanisms either as politically transformative or as regulative and part of the state's broader agenda of social control. In this article, we argue against both these positions and propose instead that inclusion is simultaneously regulative and transformative, that is, it is practiced in a state of—what Chantal Mouffe calls—“productive tension.” The article is divided into two parts: the first critically examines the theoretical literature on the tensions written into inclusive practices. The second part illustrates productive tensions in the case of inclusive strategies between ethnic/migrant groups and the government in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The article urges the reconceptualization of tensions and contradictions as part of the broader contours of contemporary radical democracy wherein erasures, assimilations, resistance, and transformations exist simultaneously. La inclusión de grupos marginados se está convirtiendo cada vez más en parte de la gobernabilidad contemporánea. Algunas evaluaciones críticas categorizan a los mecanismos de inclusión como políticamente transformadores o como reguladores y parte de un programa de control social más amplio por parte del estado. En este artículo argumentamos en contra de ambas posiciones y proponemos que la inclusión es simultáneamente regulativa y transformadora, es decir, es practicada en un estado de—lo que Chantall Mouffe llama—“tensión productiva.” El artículo es dividido en dos partes: la primera examina de manera crítica la literatura teórica de las tensiones que acompañan las prácticas de inclusión. La segunda ilustra las tensiones productivas en el caso de las estrategias de inclusión entre grupos étnicos/migrantes y el gobierno de Aotearoa/Nueva Zelanda. El artículo urge a la reconceptualización de las tensiones y contradicciones como parte de un entorno más amplio de la democracia radical contemporánea en donde el rechazo, asimilación, resistencia y transformación coexisten simultáneamente.

Difference and Diversity in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Post-neoliberal constructions of the ideal ethnic citizen

“…Yet they also precariously hover on the edges of being objects of these policies. In their paper on ethnic migrants in New Zealand, Simon-Kumar and Kingfisher (2011) point out that, although ethnic people participate in the policy processes, there were clear constraints on their actual influence in policy, echoing recent scholarship that the involvement of citizens in ‘invited’ spaces of government participation is different from citizenship participation in ‘popular’ spaces of politics (Barnes et al, 2004; Cornwall, 2004; Lister, 2007a). In the present study, participants widely acknowledged that the processes of consultation were genuinely free and wide ranging; however, the actual policy outcomes were whittled down to suit a ‘prescribed idea’ (interview, community service provider) of settlement that corresponded to the Labour government’s social (and, indirectly, economic) policy agenda.…”

Institutional Culture Change

“…It is the same with a focus on regulation and control, as this might lead to advantaging a capitalist labour market that has the potential to undermine social justice imperatives. Simon-Kumar and Kingfisher (2011) articulate this dilemma by stating that the "politics of inclusion creates both transformation and assimilation, and is based on consensus and compromise", and thus important to maintain a fair "balance between the progressive/transformative and conservative/regulative elements of inclusionary practices" (p. 275).…”

“…There are always tensions in implementing social inclusion programmes between focusing on the group versus individual interests (Silver, 2010;Simon-Kumar & Kingfisher, 2011). For example, Silver (2010, p. 195) states that "preserving group values and expressing identity may require social boundaries, but if those boundaries are open, porous, and welcoming, in brief, not exclusionary, difference might be reconciled with inclusion".…”

Neoliberalism and the New Race Politics of Migration Policy: Changing Profiles of the Desirable Migrant in New Zealand

“…Migration, especially of Asian groups, has been a divisive social issue in successive elections, its contentious politics clearly embedded in popular xenophobic sentiments (Bedford 2002;Bedford, Ho, and Lidgard 2000;Bedford, Lidgard, and Ho 2003) with the antipathy to immigration stemming from both the European majority as well as indigenous Maori (Walker 1995). Despite the unease of localised race politics, the country has, in the last decade or so, positioned itself as an ethnically inclusive society that is encouraging of racial and ethnic diversity (Fleras 2009;Simon-Kumar and Kingfisher 2011;Simon-Kumar 2014). Migration policy is located amidst the multifarious, and occasionally tense, meanings and constructions of ethnic inclusion and exclusion, which in the New Zealand case includes a state ideology of biculturalism, unlike the framing of multiculturalism as is the case in Australia and Canada.…”