Description
In this definitive history, a key figure in the People's Campaign in Kerala provides an insider's account of one of the world's most extensive and successful experiments in decentralization. Launched in 1996, the campaign mobilized over 3 million of Kerala's 30 million people and resulted in bottom-up development planning in all 1,052 of its villages and urban neighborhoods. The authors detail the background of the campaign, trace its stages, assess problems and successes, and evaluate concrete results and reforms. Local Democracy and Development tells a powerful story of mass mobilization and innovation as bureaucratic opposition was overcome, corruption and cynicism were rooted out, and parliamentary democracy prevailed. Considering both the theoretical and applied significance of the campaign both in the context of India's development since independence and of recent international debates about decentralization, civil society, and empowerment, this study provides invaluable lessons for sustainable development worldwide.
About the Author
T. M. Thomas Isaac is a member of the Kerala State Legislative Assembly from the Mararikulam Constituency. Richard W. Franke is professor of anthropology at Montclair State University.
Reviews
The book provides a very good account of the process of decentralised planning in Kerala along with its theoretical underpinnings. The book should be essential reading for all those interested in decentralised planning. * Journal Of Development Studies *
An extraordinarily well informed and detailed description of the campaign. * Journal of Asian Studies *
A particularly insightful analysis of the political conditions and configurations that made the campaign possible and those that present important obstacles to its full institutionalization. If democracy is about the actual practice of citizenship, then this book provides a critically important exploration of a particularly ambitious and large-scale experiment in democratic deepening. * H-Asia *
Book Information
ISBN 9780742516076
Author T. M. Thomas Isaac
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 345g
Dimensions(mm) 227mm * 149mm * 15mm
About the Author
T. M. Thomas Isaac is a member of the Kerala State Legislative Assembly from the Mararikulam Constituency. Richard W. Franke is professor of anthropology at Montclair State University.
Reviews
The book provides a very good account of the process of decentralised planning in Kerala along with its theoretical underpinnings. The book should be essential reading for all those interested in decentralised planning. * Journal Of Development Studies *
An extraordinarily well informed and detailed description of the campaign. * Journal of Asian Studies *
A particularly insightful analysis of the political conditions and configurations that made the campaign possible and those that present important obstacles to its full institutionalization. If democracy is about the actual practice of citizenship, then this book provides a critically important exploration of a particularly ambitious and large-scale experiment in democratic deepening. * H-Asia *
Book Information
ISBN 9780742516076
Author T. M. Thomas Isaac
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 345g
Dimensions(mm) 227mm * 149mm * 15mm
