Open Access
Inclusion and local elected governments : the Panchayat Raj system in India
Disa Sjoblom,Ruth J. Alsop,Anirudh Krishna +2 more
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TLDR
In this paper, the authors assess the degree and nature of exclusion and inclusion within panchayat raj organizations in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh using a database assembled for a group from six districts in each state.Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to assess the degree and nature of exclusion and inclusion within panchayat raj organizations in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This was examined using a database assembled for a group from six districts-three in each state. The districts in Rajasthan were Ajmer, Bhilwara and Dungarpur, and Neemuch, Mandsaur and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. The villages selected for study included some that sit astride major roads and others that are located some distance away and are relatively hard to access. Villages both large and small, as well as single-caste-dominant and mixed-caste villages are represented in the study. Also represented in the study are villages where the post of sarpanch is open to all, and others where the sarpanch is female, or from a scheduled caste (SC) or scheduled tribe (ST). The central question addressed was whether a person's social and economic attributes determined their participation in gram panchayat activities. Our original hypothesis, which was based on documentation and rural experience, suggests that those who are present and heard during panchayat meetings tend to be the better educated males and those who are wealthier, more articulate and of higher caste than the general population. Our analysis indicates that certain groups-mainly women and tribal people-have very limited participation, but that assumptions relating to caste and wealth as determinants of exclusion do not hold true.read more
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Empowerment in practice : from analysis to implementation
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an easily accessible framework to readers, especially those for whom empowerment remains a puzzling development concern, conceptually and in application, which can be used for understanding, measuring, monitoring, and operationalizing empowerment policy and practice.
Journal ArticleDOI
Decentralized corruption or corrupt decentralization? Community monitoring of poverty-alleviation schemes in Eastern India
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that the strength of upward accountability (especially to political parties) is as crucial as downward accountability to communities, and that when these vertical accountabilities are weak, horizontal accountability structures between local civil society and officials can mutate into networks of corruption in which “community actors become accomplices or primary agents.
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Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define political participation as "how much? about what?" and "who participates" and "race, ethnicity, and gender" in the context of political participation.
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TL;DR: The Puzzle of Participation in American Politics as discussed by the authors is the political logic of political participation in American politics, and it has been solved by the mobilization and participation of citizens in government and electoral politics.
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