Roundtable: Nicole Curato, 2019. Democracy in Times of Misery: From Spectacular Miseries to Deliberative Action

In her new book Nicole Curato discusses how communities that are struck by disasters navigate their situation to obtain the resources for survival and reconstruction and find a voice in a confusing political landscape. Because communities are usually destroyed and scattered after the disaster, the book frames these citizens’ efforts in terms of public making. In this way Curato draws out the contingent character of post-disaster survival and rebuilding, the manifold interactions between residents and variety of aid-givers, NGOs, politicians, and the media, the residents’ relation to the wider political environment, and the democratic implications of residents’ post-disaster strategies. Drawing on deliberative theory, Curato traces how communities use different strategies of contestation and collaboration to gain voice and visibility. This rich and meticulously researched book makes a number of important contributions to the literature. It contributes to democratic and participatory theory in exploring what democracy means to disempowered communities in trying times. While theory and research on democratic deliberation has travelled from western democracies to more authoritarian regimes, Curato now expands it to a country with weak and/or oppressive state structures. Her book contributes to deliberative theory by expanding the range of deliberative goals and means that communities use in navigating complex situations and advancing their interests in situations of disempowerment. It highlights the important role of action and affect in political participation, the challenge of overcoming epistemic injustice, and processes of inclusion and exclusion in disaster relief situations. Through the concept of agonistic solidarity it also contributes to solidarity theory.