Democratization from Above: The Logic of Local Democracy in the Developing World

✍ Scribed by Anjali Thomas Bohlken

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 308
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Democratization from Above seeks to explain why some national and state governments in the developing world introduce reforms to make local governance more democratic while others neglect or actively undermine democracy at local levels of government. The study challenges conventional wisdom that local democratization is implemented as a means of granting more autonomy to local actors. Instead, Anjali Thomas Bohlken argues that local democratization offers higher level government elites who lack control over party organizational networks an alternative means of increasing the effectiveness of local intermediaries on whom these elites rely to mobilize political support. The book starts with a focus on India and uses original data, and a combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence, to show support for the argument. The study then relies on an original cross-national dataset to show how the argument helps explain the variation in the implementation of local democratization reforms across the developing world.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half-title page
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
1 The Puzzle of "Democratization from Above''
1.1 Definition of Local Democratization
1.2 Common View 1: Local Democratization as an Extension of National Democratization
1.3 Common View 2: Local Democratization as a Form of Decentralization
1.4 The Logic of Local Democratization – A Sketch of theArgument
1.5 The Puzzle of Local Democratization in India
1.6 Overview of the Book
2 The Strategic Logic of Local Democratization
2.1 Local Democratization as a Solution to an Information Problem
2.2 Other Decision-Makers beyond the Chief Executive
2.3 Factors Shaping the Competition within the Party
2.4 Additional Implications of the Theory
2.5 Conclusion and Scope Conditions
2.6 Appendix
3 Local Intermediaries, Local Democratization, and Political Party Organizations in India
3.1 A Primer on the Indian Political Context
3.2 The Importance of Local Intermediaries in India
3.3 Governmental and Organizational Power within IndianParties
3.4 Governmental Discretion over State Resources
3.5 State's Discretion in the Implementation of LocalDemocratization
3.6 Conclusion
4 "Constitutionalizing'' Local Democracy: Explaining the 1993 National Constitutional Amendments
4.1 Background to the 1993 Constitutional Amendments
4.2 Explaining the 1993 Constitutional Amendments: A Comparative Approach
4.3 Explaining the 1993 Constitutional Amendments: The Logic of Process Tracing
4.4 Alternative Explanations
4.5 Conclusion
5 Intra-party Competition and Local Democracy in the Indian States: A Statistical Analysis
5.1 Definition and Operationalization
5.2 Evidence
5.3 Conclusion
6 Intra-party Competition and Local Governance Reform in Kerala and Tamil Nadu
6.1 Explaining Variation across Cases
6.2 Within-Case Analyses
6.3 Conclusion
7 Local Politicians as Intermediaries: The Effect of Village-Level Politicians on State-Level Elections
7.1 Local Politicians as Vote Mobilizers for Higher-LevelPoliticians
7.2 Grassroots Institutions in Kerala
7.3 Data
7.4 Methodology
7.5 Results
7.6 Alternative Explanations
7.7 Conclusion
7.8 Appendix
8 The Logic of Local Democratization across the DevelopingWorld
8.1 Intra-party Competition and Local DemocratizationReforms
8.2 Local Democratization Reforms in Authoritarian Regimes
8.3 Conclusion
9 Implications of "Democratization from Above''
9.1 Democracy, Decentralization, and Path-Dependence – The Conventional Wisdom
9.2 Policy Implications
10 Data Appendix: Dataset on Local Democratization Reforms in the Developing World
Bibliography
Index