India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), passed in 2005, has been among the developing world's most ambitious anti-poverty initiatives. By 'guaranteeing' 100 days of work annually to every rural household, NREGA has sought to advance the Indian constitution's commitment to securing citizens' 'right to work'. This book is not a technical evaluation of programme performance. It offers instead a detailed analysis of the politics surrounding NREGA: the model of political action that motivated its architects, the public advocacy and parliamentary maneuvering involved in its passage, the political dynamics shaping implementation at state and local levels, the institutional constraints on reforming how it operates, and its complex impacts on the political capacities of poor people. Based on their extensive - primarily qualitative - field research, the authors examine changing conceptions of rights and the challenges of making states more accountable to their most disadvantaged citizens. Their analysis of the politics of NREGA provides a window onto the inner workings of Indian democracy and the complex character of the Indian state as it attempts to upgrade its social welfare provision to something more in keeping with the country's growing stature.

Politics and the Right to Work: India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

Politics & Social Sciences

Jenkins, Rob

Manor, James

Politics & Government

Oxford University Press

This book examines certain changes in the political make-up of Karnataka, between the early 1970s and the late 1980s, which, in turn, led to the birth of a unique democracy in the state. In a departure from most studies on political science and political history which pay little or no attention to the role of politicians and focus only on technocratic blueprints, administrative processes and incentive systems, this volume takes into account the role politicians play in shaping the character of their governments, public policy and state–society relations. It studies the political transformation of Karnataka by focusing heavily on three chief ministers of the state who played an important role in making politics in Karnataka more accommodative, enlightened and, hence, more democratic. This volume is a detailed insider’s account of the political processes in Karnataka, enriched with interviews and surveys which seek to locate this work in the social science literature, in Karnataka’s recent history and in comparative context alongside other Indian states.

Broadening and Deepening Democracy: Political Innovation in Karnataka (Exploring the Political in South Asia)

Raghavan, E

Reference

Routledge India

This study of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the pivotal figure in the emergence of modern politics in Sri Lanka, makes a major contribution to an important yet neglected period in the country's political history. Dr James Manor explores the personal and political dimensions of Bandaranaike's life, concentrating on the economic, social, political and cultural forces which had a substantial bearing upon his story. Bandaranaike is assessed as a member of that generation of Asian and African leaders who presided over the transition from imperial rule to assertive self-government and helped to develop new modes of politics. Bandaranaike's story illuminates the development of democratic politics in Sri Lanka as well as the origins of current tensions between Sinhalese and Tamils, which threaten to destroy democracy and the island's social cohesion.

The Expedient Utopian: Bandaranaike and Ceylon

History

Cambridge University Press

Asia

This is a study of whether setting up democratic local councils in four developing countries (Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Bangladesh and India) actually makes any difference to the popularity, responsiveness and effectiveness of local government and administration. The authors make an important contribution to current debates about "good governance" and whether decentralization can provide better services for the mass of the population--the poor and the disadvantaged in rural areas. The book is comparative, and based on detailed local fieldwork and popular surveys.

Democracy and Decentralisation in South Asia and West Africa: Participation, Accountability and Performance

Business & Money

Crook, Richard C.

Economics

This is a study of whether setting up democratic local councils in four developing countries (Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Bangladesh and India) actually makes any difference to the popularity, responsiveness and effectiveness of local government and administration. The authors make an important contribution to current debates about "good governance" and whether decentralization can provide better services for the mass of the population--the poor and the disadvantaged in rural areas. The book is comparative, and based on detailed local fieldwork and popular surveys.

Rethinking Third-World Politics

Providing a thorough reassessment of our understanding of politics in Third World societies, this book contains some of the liveliest and most original analyses to have been published in recent years. The severity of the political and economic crisis throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America in the 1980s has highlighted the inadequacy of existing political science theories and the urgent need to provide new paradigms for the 1990s.

Sociology

Routledge

Advocates of pluralist, competitive politics have regarded decentralization as a device for deepening democracy or for prying closed systems open and to give interest groups space in which to organize, compete and otherwise assert themselves. Some politicians in central governments see it as a means of delegating expensive tasks to others lower down. From a political economy perspective, this study examines the origins of the current wave of decentralizations in less-developed countries and its implications, especially its promise and limitations for rural development. It is based mainly on empirical evidence drawn from experiments with decentralization in a large number of countries. The paper is divided into six parts. Part I defines terms to show that the word 'decentralization' can mean many different things. Part II examines why some political regimes have often tended not to decentralize even when all indicators support the need for it. Part III seeks to explain the tendency of many regimes during the early 1980s to decentralize. Part IV examines the encounter between decentralized institutions and how they operate within their state-society and political milieu. Part V discusses the advantages and disadvantages of decentralization. Part VI assesses the promise of decentralization for rural development.

The Political Economy of Democratic Decentralization (Directions in Development)

World Bank Publications

Research in recent years on aid effectiveness shows that significant obstacles in fragile states--insecurity, poor governance and weak implementation capacity--usually prevent aid from achieving the desired results in these environments. This study investigates the attributes and effectiveness of donor-supported programmes and projects that worked well under difficult conditions in fragile states. Presented in this study are nine development initiatives in six less developed countries―Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Timor Leste and Uganda. The cases show that development initiatives, which engage local communities and local level governments, are often able to have significant impact. However, for more substantial improvements to take places, localized gains need to be scaled up either horizontally (other localities) or vertically (to higher levels). Given the advantages of working at the local level and the difficulty of working through mainstream bureaucratic agencies at higher levels in these countries, donors often prefer to create 'parallel-agencies' to reach out to larger numbers of beneficiaries. However, this may in the long run weaken the legitimacy of mainstream government institutions, and donor agencies may therefore choose to work as closely as possible with government officials from the beginning to build trust and demonstrating that new initiatives are non-threatening and help prepare the eventual mainstreaming of 'parallel agencies'.

Aid that Works: Successful Development in Fragile States (Directions in Development - Public Sector Governance)

World Bank

Providing a thorough reassessment of our understanding of politics in Third World societies, this book contains some of the liveliest and most original analyses to have been published in recent years. The severity of the political and economic crisis throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America in the 1980s has highlighted the inadequacy of existing political science theories and the urgent need to provide new paradigms for the 1990s.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Manor, James. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Manor, James

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Manor, James. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Politics and the Right to Work: India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

Broadening and Deepening Democracy: Political Innovation in Karnataka (Exploring the Political in South Asia)

The Expedient Utopian: Bandaranaike and Ceylon

The Expedient Utopian: Bandaranaike and Ceylon

Democracy and Decentralisation in South Asia and West Africa: Participation, Accountability and Performance

Democracy and Decentralisation in South Asia and West Africa: Participation, Accountability and Performance

Rethinking Third-World Politics

The Political Economy of Democratic Decentralization (Directions in Development)

Aid that Works: Successful Development in Fragile States (Directions in Development - Public Sector Governance)

Rethinking Third-World Politics