Political Voice

Abstract Political Voice examines the agency of marginalised people, emphasising the processes and strategies through which different communities around the world articulate their political voices. By focusing on the political voices of marginalised groups, this timely book uncovers democratic expression and agency beyond the ballot box, examining how the articulation of political voice constitutes marginalised groups and democracy itself. Political Voice is based on the conviction that voice is necessary when people are routinely silenced and excluded. The book arrives at a crucial juncture in politics, as marginalised people around the globe rise up to challenge political regimes, institutions, embedded practices, attitudes, and laws that stigmatize and exclude certain groups. The proliferation of protests around the world in the last ten years reveal how people are demanding to be heard and refusing to remain silent, and the relationship between social movements and democracy. Political Voice is theoretically generative as it presents, for the first time, an innovative conceptualisation of political voice, one that moves beyond conventional democratic theory. To this end, it develops the concept of political voice around three elements: autonomy, representation, and constitution (ARC). ARC is then interrogated through two contemporary case studies examining the articulation of political voice of two persecuted and silenced groups: LGBTIQ/queer activism in India and Roma mobilization in Europe. This study draws on empirical research conducted in India and in Europe.