There must be 50 ways: Participating in democracy #8: Grassroots collective action toward parallel institutions

Some scholars posit a tension between citizen action toward more democracy that relies on pressuring powerful people (official deciders and unofficial influencers) with grassroots collective action that creates parallel institutions promoting and practicing both democracy and social justice (e.g., Endo, 2024). For the purposes of this series of participating in democracy methods, it is helpful to separate them as Endo does. For the purposes of acting in the real world, it is important to realize that they are each more effective when coördinated in some fashion. 

Civil society parallel institutions date back virtually infinitely in human history, but in terms of strategic nonviolent grassroots change, one starting point might be Gandhi and his successor in the land reform movement in India, Vinoba Bhave. Their creation of semi-autonomous ashrams and other land reform unofficial institutions were documented by later scholars, including Gene Sharp (1973b). 

So, if you don't like how your local institutions are enforcing structural injustice, consider creating your own institution that might be able to operate to supplant all or part of that authority. For instance, imagine you live in a suburb where a local ordinance prohibits building raised beds, plowing up lawns to grow food and flowers, or other restrictions on your use of your own bit of land around your home. Fighting this as an individual is possible but doing so as a growing collective is far more effective in most cases. 

The Patriotic American Victory Garden Association, your imagined group, can simply begin supporting a combination of personal and community garden spaces, enlisting supportive local public and private school engagement as Victory Garden Learning Programs in schools at all levels. If it's done with enough momentum, there might be no resistance and no enforcement of the obnoxious local ordinance. If enforcement is attempted, civil resistance is effective if done with as much publicity and widespread action as possible. 

While there is no guarantee of success with any method of structural change, there are methods that do achieve that goal much more often than others. It's not a sure thing when change is sought, but using the most successful methods is the wise path. Collective action, done well, can be a way to participate in any level of democracy, or indeed to bring democracy into places where it is lacking. 

References

Endo, C. (2024). Structural Change Through “Collective Action as Democratic Practice”: Linking Grassroots Democracy with Social Justice. Political Studies, 72(4), 1354–1372. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1177/00323217231182024

Sharp, Gene (1973b). The politics of nonviolent action: Part two. The methods of nonviolent action. Boston: Porter Sargent.