Civility and village power: renewable energyand playground politics

Griffin Thompson and Judy LaufmanU.S. Export Council for Renewable Energy, 122 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001, USA

The successful diffusion and adoption of renewable energy systems at the village level is predicatedon organizational and institutional issues more than technical ones. The technical characteristicsof renewable energy systems require collective social action for their purchase, operation and main-tenance. Furthermore, the adoption process fosters behavior we refer to as playground politicswhich constitutes the foundation of civil society, democratic practices and sustainable development.

1. IntroductionOur lives are shaped in a variety of ways by the tech-nologies we use. Machines have a direct bearing on howwe eat, play, and work. From automobiles and telephonesto televisions and computers, we as individuals and as asociety have been continually transformed by the toolswe employ. Furthermore, technologies themselves possesscertain ideological value structures which address the per-ennial questions of political thought, such as the natureof justice, freedom and equity. This paper seeks to enlargethe compass of current debate on development to includethe forces of energy technology, democratization, and‘‘civil society’’.

In pursuing the democratic path to economic, social andpolitical development, or in today’s development lexicon,‘‘sustainable development’’, too little attention has beenpaid to the impact of technological choices on our politi-cal landscape. This is particularly true for those societiesworldwide which are seeking to either resurrect demo-cratic cultures of the past, or create democratic decision-making structures for the first time. Energy technologies-- including renewable energy technologies -- constitute‘‘political things’’. They cannot be viewed solely throughthe economic or technical lens, but rather embody sourcesof economic, social and political power. The need to trans-form nature into usable units of energy has traditionallyprovided the means of consolidating power whereby somemembers of society come to possess control over others.C.S. Lewis unveils the truth when he says, ‘‘What we callMan’s power over Nature turns out to be a power exer-cised by some men over other men with Nature as itsinstrument’’ [Lewis, l947].

The discovery of new energy sources and technologiestranslates into new patterns of discipline, authority, andeconomic and political organization. The source, amountand form of energy upon which a society depends influ-ences, to a surprisingly large degree, the ultimate politicaland social composition of that society. The focus belowwill be on how renewable energy technologies serve asinstruments of power and how that power can be chan-neled to contribute to the goals of democratization withinthe village structure.

The successful diffusion and adoption of renewable en-

ergy systems at the village level is predicated on organ-izational and institutional issues more than technical ones.The technical characteristics of renewable energy systemsrequire collective social action for their purchase, opera-tion and maintenance. More importantly, successful dif-fusion of renewable energy technologies requires theinstitutional scaffolding and associational behavior whichconstitute the basic elements of civil society. Finally, theemergence of civil society surrounding the adoption ofrenewable energy technologies can only occur if thesetechnologies are deployed on a commercial, cost-recoverybasis. Donor aid giveaways offer no incentive or oppor-tunity for individuals within the community to interact inways which lead to cooperative associations. Technologi-cal gifts from foreign or domestic benefactors make therecipients more dependent rather than empowering them.

The transformation of energy resources into energyservices that can reap democratic fruit is not without itshistorical analog. Throughout time water projects, whichare ultimately energy systems, have either concentratedor diffused power, thus strengthening local autonomy andreinforcing local political values, or generating distant bu-reaucracies and thus denying the local population the rightof self-determination [White, 1943; Wittfogel, 1981; Wor-ster, 1983]. Renewable energy systems also possess suchcharacteristics; we will adapt this ‘‘hydraulic theory’’ ofcivilization to the adoption of renewable energy for vil-lage power and attach to it the principles of communityorganization and what we refer to as ‘‘playground poli-tics’’.

2. Playground politics

Playground politics describes the cooperative behaviorwhich defines and nurtures our collective identities whichcan only come to full bloom within the diverse and plu-ralistic interstices of civil society. Renewable energy tech-nologies promote institutional practices that can reconcileprivate interest and public virtue, individual needs andsocial solidarity, the egoistic and the altruistic. The pursuitof private autonomy -- the cornerstone of democracy --necessarily runs through the public square. We will dem-onstrate how these technologies offer the opportunity toextend the playground social ethics of ‘‘share your toys,

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‘‘take turns’’, and ‘‘play nicely together’’ into communalpolitical arrangements, whereby the individuals’ commu-nitarian impulses are satisfied in the process of fulfillingone’s individual needs. Playground politics implies adapt-ing the basic social manners we presumably learned aschildren to the very serious and grown-up requirementsof providing basic human needs to our families throughvillage power systems. The Private Consumer becomesthe Public Citizen.

Playground politics connotes the cultivation of suchclassic virtues as accountability, responsibility, reciprocity,trust, loyalty and friendship: each of which requires activeand engaged involvement with others in social situations.The behavioral traits all civilized cultures seek entail ha-bituating ourselves to those practices we learn as childrenon playgrounds and schoolyards. These fields of dreamsand play are the places where we come to learn to sociallyconverse with our brothers, sisters and friends and under-stand that kindness and gentleness usually beget trust andfriendship.

The pure art of playground politics teaches us that weindividuals are transformed into fulfilled persons onlythrough enduring bonds with our family and neighbors,and that our happiness corresponds positively to the alle-giance and commitment we demonstrate to our ‘‘otherselves’’. As Plato taught, those who live outside of societyare either beasts or gods. Few of us, even in our finermoments, can lay claim to any form of deity, and beastsare hardly favorite companions on the playgrounds of so-ciety. We as individuals learn what it truly means to behuman through our everyday interactions with others aswe seek fair, equitable and just relations. In this sense,the Hebrew Scriptures offer us an eloquently inclusivesense of the meaning of justice in the concept shalom,which requires us to seek ‘‘ right relationships’’. The es-tablishment of right relationships begins with the socialethics we identified above of sharing, taking turns, andplaying and working nicely together. This takes placewithin institutional structures amidst the technologies weadopt for the provision of our various individual and so-cial needs.

3. Civil society

Civil society is the arena within which individuals mediateamong each other, in open and free political discourse, inorder that the person qua individual can act on his/heropinions, passions and interests, while at the same timeserving the community as person qua citizen. Much hasbeen written regarding renewable energy technologies’contributions to the rural and peri-urban poor throughtheir delivery of a range of energy services. One of theimperatives of a democracy is the elevation of basic hu-man needs and lifestyles of all its citizenry. Social/eco-nomic development of the poor is a precondition to aflourishing democratic regime. How can renewable energytechnologies, by delivering energy services, provide thefoundation for civil society? From the institutionalist per-spective, renewables require and entail social organiza-tional patterns and structures which are synonymous with

the basic elements of civil society.Civil society consists of the wide range of mediating

or intermediate institutions that operate independently be-tween the individual and the government, and is recog-nized as the cornerstone of a vibrant democratic culture.There is renewed appreciation of the important role ofnon-governmental organizations in this process of democ-ratization. It is through the ‘‘art of association’’ that indi-viduals learn the rituals and ceremonies of democraticpolitics, such as cooperation, civic responsibility, conflictresolution, compromise, and consensus-building.

For such writers as Hegel, Saint-Simon, Comte, Durk-heim and Tocqueville, civil society consists of the politicaland social space wherein the individual can define anddemonstrate his/her individualism while simultaneouslygiving voice and vote to the larger common good andsocial solidarity. The voluntary institutions of civil societywhich occupy that expanse between the collectivizingpush of the state and the atomizing pull of the marketplaceprovide the necessary framework to put into practice thebasic elements of what it means to be social beings. Toc-queville maintains that ‘‘people cannot belong to theseassociations for any length of time without finding outhow order is maintained... and by what contrivance theyare made to advance, harmoniously and methodically, tothe same object’’ [Tocqueville, 1976]. Civil society is trulythe arena in which playground politics is appropriatelyplayed.

4. Sustainable development

The concepts ‘‘sustainable development’’ and ‘‘empower-ment’’ have become the organizing principles for all ac-tivities in the field of international development. Theseterms are now seen as the absolute condition for credibil-ity for any development policy proposal and are thus usedto legitimize policy and project prescriptions from everyideological camp. Yet, if the terms sustainability and em-powerment are to survive as anything more than badgesand symbols of today’s political and moral correctness,and if the goals of sustainable development are to beachieved, then we should define more precisely how theseterms relate to village power development.

Sustainable development can only be achieved if pur-sued through democratic social choice mechanisms. De-velopment means enlarging the sphere of influence eachindividual has over his or her own life -- increasing therange of political, economic and social choices they haveand the political, economic and social power to exercisethose options. Furthermore, these choices must be offeredwithout violating cultural traditions and the values whichunderlie these traditions. A condition of sustainable de-velopment therefore is the expansion of participatoryrights and responsibilities to all the citizenry -- empower-ment. Tyranny wears many masks. Tyrannous oppressiondoes not, to paraphrase a notable Chinese political phi-losopher, flow solely out of the barrel of a gun. Rather,it is also found in the poverty, ignorance and ill-healththat slowly but surely extinguish the hopes and dreamsof millions who find themselves locked in social, eco-

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nomic and political systems offering no hope for abrighter future.

5. Technology as value structures

Technology must be understood as more than hardwareor physical machinery. It encompasses the skills, theknowledge and the social, economic and political systemswhich are required by and surround the implementationof the technology. In this more liberal connotation, everytool entails a number of social and political effects beyondthose for which it was designed. For example, dieselbuses: (1) often are accompanied by labor unions whichwield tremendous economic and political power; (2) re-quire an infrastructure which is subject to maintenanceand public guidance; (3) alter residential, commercial andother end-use patterns; (4) affect related energy and so-cio-economic development policies; (5) pollute the envi-ronment, which unleashes a chain of ancillary effects; (6)provide for manufacturing and service-oriented jobs di-rectly, which also have ripple effects throughout the econ-omy; and so on. Buses also transport people.

Technological devices are developed and diffused in re-sponse to problems or needs of society -- they answerquestions posed by the polis. This is a relatively straight-forward and seemingly benign truism; yet, the repercus-sions of the technical answers given to political questionsare far from politically sterile. Invariably, the devices re-sult in systems or networks which affect the social or-ganization of power and authority, either by design, orthrough unexpected consequences which often follow inthe wake of implementation. Not all technologies possesssuch catalytic power; many are quite innocuous. ThorsteinVeblen refers to technological adoption as changes in the‘‘habits of thought’’ [Veblen, 1919]. We claim that thechanges in the ‘‘habits of thought’’ brought about throughthe introduction of renewable energy technologies ulti-mately lead to what Tocqueville refers to as ‘‘habits ofthe heart’’: the acceptance of civil attitudes and behavior[Tocqueville, 1976].

6. Organizational and technological scale

The relationship of renewable energy systems to individ-ual autonomy and empowerment, sustainable develop-ment, and civil society revolve around their scale and thetheme of decentralization. Local self-governing units(civil society) are the best guarantees for democratic val-ues. Individual liberty and social justice can best be ac-tualized when decision-making structures are closest tothe individual. However, as Aristotle taught, politics is apractical, not speculative science; we become political be-ings only by doing political things. Therefore, the birthand development of self-governing units require the con-ditions and opportunities for individuals to come togetherto do political things. The introduction and adoption ofrenewable energy systems offer the opportunities for vil-lagers to enter into civic covenants with one another andpractice the fine art of playground politics.

The merits of decentralized decision-making go backas far as Aristotle who actually calculated the optimum

number of citizens for any single polis. The argument isthat the closer the centers of power are to the people andthe more centers of power there are, the greater the like-lihood for individual freedom. The objective is to reduceboth the scale and scope of the concerns of society thatare determined and administered by centralized stateauthorities [Kohr, 1944; Schumacher, 1973; Sale, 1980].This doesn’t absolve the state of certain key functions,but it does diminish the control it wields in the day-to-dayaffairs of the individual and local community which nowassert greater and more meaningful responsibility.

Localism and government by smaller associations isbased on the right of the individual and communities tomanage their own social and political affairs. This propo-sition is given clear modern articulation in the RomanCatholic principle of ‘‘subsidiarity’’. Pope Pius XI in hisEncyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno expressed it elo-quently: ‘‘Just as it is gravely wrong to take from indi-viduals what they can accomplish by their own initiativeand industry and give it to the community, so also is itan injustice and at the same time a grave evil and distur-bance of right order to assign to a greater and higher as-sociation what lesser and subordinate organizations cando’’ [Pope Pius XI, 1942].

Rigorous analysis supports intuitive common sense. In-cluding the local community in the conceptualization,planning, implementation, and maintenance stages of pro-jects helps ensure the project’s success [Brinkerhoff,1992; Wunsch, 1991]. Local sovereignty in deciding whogets what, how, and when -- the basic elements of politics-- also ensures greater inclusivity of those segments of thepopulation which are, or which have been, traditionallymarginalized from such decisions, such as religious andethnic minorities and women.

In the village of Manyana in rural Botswana, few ofthe residents had access to grid-connected eleccticity. Un-der its rural electrification program, the Government ofBotswana launched a PV pilot project consisting of 42PV lighting systems, 6 PV-powered streetlights, PV light-ing and refrigeration systems for the village clinic and 6solar water heating systems. The households receiving thePV lighting systems are purchasing the systems througha long-term lease-purchase arrangement where themonthly payments are roughly equivalent to what theywere spending for candles and kerosene [Porter, 1994].

The Government of Botswana asked the U.S. Renew-able Energy for African Development (REFAD) programto conduct a socio-technical evaluation of the solar light-ing system project. The results were quite impressive andsupport the thesis of this paper: the introduction of newtechnology providing energy services to the individualhouseholds and the community at large led to positivechanges in individual and social behavior. As a result ofthe technologies, political participation grew, crime di-minished, education scores improved, and economic ac-tivity increased. These behavioral changes contributed tothe development of an active civil society and reflectedthe playground socio-political virtues of sharing, takingturns, and playing nicely together. This is one example of

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how such systems can contribute to the goals of sustain-able development.

Similarly, an assessment of a local irrigation project inNorthern Sumatra demonstrated that local management,falling between the central government and the local in-dividual end-user, not only reinforced the cultural rolesprevalent in the villages, but proved to be the most effi-cient approach to the provision of the irrigation services.The keujreun system of irrigation management is viewedas operating on several levels and forms the heart of theirrigation network.

Decisions including operation and maintenance, conflictresolution, and distribution of services rest with the irri-gation network which consists of the system caretakers,civil administrators, end-users, and religious leaders.‘‘The network is highly intertwined with matters of civicand spiritual order as well as agronomic practice. Its stateof readiness and smooth operation are both necessary for,and a reflection of, order in the realm of governance andculture. The effectiveness of the network is dependent onthe synchronized individual behavior of multiple users aswell as their timely collective behavior’’ [Coward, 1991].This is an excellent example of how a technological sys-tem can be a catalyst for harmonious collective actionbased on individual interest and needs.

India has a long history of decentralized governance.The system of local democratic practice known aspanchayati raj strengthens both the administrative effi-ciency of social projects, and the decision-making capa-bilities of the villagers. While the experience of thepanchayats, or elected village councils, has been mixed,the principles behind their formation are consistent withthe themes articulated in this paper. What needs to be ex-plored is how the introduction of new energy technologiescan contribute to the democratic effectiveness of thepanchayati raj and the strengthening of attendant compo-nents of civil society.

How does such local autonomy emerge? As mentionedabove, democratic practices do not emerge spontaneously;they require the proper circumstances to effect autono-mous and inclusive rule. As noted, technologies are po-litical things and represent the vehicles for creating a moreparticipatory society. The introduction of small-scale, de-centralized renewable energy technologies can acceleratethe trend toward community empowerment. Conventionalenergy technologies, similar to ancient hydraulic systems,are generally designed, built, and operated by distant bu-reaucracies untethered to the socio-cultural concerns andimperatives of the local end-user. These mega-scale con-ventional systems cannot address the very real villageconcerns that elude reductionist cost-benefit analysis.

7. Village power systems and playground politics

The unique social and technical characteristics of renew-able energy technologies are able to accommodate the lo-cal exigencies of the village community. Thesetechnologies, designed and operated at the human scale,are relatively simplistic in nature and flexible in operation.As G.K. Chesterton urged, ‘‘Instead of the machine being

a giant to which the man is a pigmy, we must at leastreverse the proportions until man is a giant to whom themachine is a toy’’ [Chesterton, 1929]. His reference to themachine as a toy is significant particularly in the light ofour theme of playground politics. Chesterton would surelysee the elegance and appropriateness of viewing renew-able technologies as the rightful toys for the village play-ground; the toys around which the villagers practice theirown unique form of playground politics.

Expansion of energy services into village communitiesrequires local groups to choose, finance, operate and man-age the technological systems which provide those serv-ices. Just as in the provision of water supplies to ruralcommunities, the issue is no longer a technical one, butrather an organizational one of association [Rondinelli,1991]. Renewable energy systems, while less expensivethan conventional sources for rural energy delivery, stillrequire collective action. In order that the individual ex-ercise his/her desire for energy services, he/she needscommunal support and the participation of public organi-zations. In other words, the satisfaction of private needsrequires public involvement.

Renewable energy tecbnologies, whether they are indi-vidualized solar home lighting systems, or small village-scale hybrid systems, require the community to organizeeffectively to make decisions regarding the allocation ofcosts and benefits, which can only take place within afully commercial exchange system. This begins with thefirst decision: what kind of renewable energy resourcewill be utilized, and the scale and design of the project,which requires consensus-building. These decisions canonly be made by those individuals who will be using thepower generated by the project, and by those who willtake ownership of the systems.

Second comes the decision of financing. How will theenergy services be paid for? Special financing instrumentsneed to be established which reflect and respond to theend-users’ needs and abilities for repayment. Rural financ-ing institutions around the world, such as the GrameenBank of Bangladesh, have demonstrated the effectivenessof group loans which exemplify the principles of play-ground politics [Yaron, 1994; Von Pischke, 1991]. Loanrepayment includes the matter of default or failures inpayment, which summons forth the socio-political con-cerns of conflict resolution and mediation. Experience hasshown that individuals and small communities givegreater care and attention to that property for which theyhave operational and fiduciary responsibility. Technologytransfer through donor aid programs undercuts this re-sponsibility which follows from ownership, constitutingwhat AIbert Hirschman refers to as the ‘‘theory of per-verse effects’’.

Third, these systems must be maintained. Who willmaintain the systems? Will it be the individual end-userin the case of solar home lighting systems, or will thecommunity select an individual(s) who will assume thisresponsibility? This aspect of energy service delivery re-quires cooperation between all members of the commu-nity. Evidence of how PV diffusion programs promote this

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cooperative behavior is found in the SELF and ENERSOLprograms which operate throughout Asia and Latin Amer-ica, and in the U.S.-India Ramakrishna project in WestBengal. Finally, compromise is required. In fact, compro-mise and cooperation are constants throughout the energyservice delivery continuum.

The significance of the technological system is that thevillage community now has a compelling reason and in-centive to act cooperatively, based on the collective desirefor energy services. Perhaps even more importantly, theindividual has the incentive and motivation to cooperateand communicate with his/her neighbors. An individualcannot purchase, operate and maintain these systemsalone; he/she requires the assistance and comity of his/herneighbors. Furthermore, in this social cooperative setting,the individual must act in a decent and civil manner.

Access to energy services is the common purpose forwhich the households come together. By associating pub-licly, individuals define and determine how that commonpurpose will be actualized, thereby exercising those play-ground principles of ‘‘sharing your toys’’ (keeping inmind Chesterton’s reference to technologies as toys andtheir relevance to village power systems), ‘‘taking turns’’(rotating responsibilities in decision-making), and ‘‘play-ing nicely together’’ (compromise and the childlike wis-dom of the meaning of cooperation).

Renewable energy technologies for village power thusneed to satisfy two conditions of sustainable developmentand empowerment: (1) these technologies deliver a rangeof energy services which fuel economic growth requiredfor human development; and (2) the mediating structuresrequired to diffuse and maintain the systems encourageand in fact depend upon behavioral patterns which formthe basic elements of democratic political development.

In conclusion, the adoption of renewable energy tech-nologies provides the conditions for the practice and per-fection of playground politics, and facilitates thosedemocratizing forms of civil society which in turn are thefoundations for sustainable development. In our quest tobalance technology, energy services, and political under-standing, we dare not ignore the significant impact of thetoys we select for our playground.

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Chesterton, G.K., 1929. The Outline of Sanity, New York, Methuen & Co.

Coward, E., 1991. ‘‘Planning technical and social change in irrigated areas’’, in Cernea, M.,Putting People First.

de Tocqueville, Alexis, (ed. J.P. Mayer), 1976, originally pub. 1848. Democracy in America,New York, Doubleday.

Kohr, L., 1944. The Breakdown of Nations, New York, E.P. Dutton.

Lewis, C.S., 1947. The Abolition of Man, London, Cambridge University Press.

Pope Pius XI, 1942. Quadragesimo Anno, Vatican, Vatican Press.

Porter, J., 1994. ‘‘Solar empowers’’, Solar Industry Journal, 2.

Rondinelli, D., 1991. ‘‘Decentralizing water supply services in developing countries’’, PublicAdministration and Development, 11.

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