Governing Locally
Institutions, Policies and Implementation in Indian Cities

Studies how habits of governance create institutional rigidities that dislodge law-given local autonomy to improve urban public services.

Babu Jacob (Author), Suraj Jacob (Author)

9781108832342, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 February 2022

318 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 2.4 cm, 0.55 kg

'In simple and uncomplicated words, this book is path-breaking. Unlike rural panchayats, urban local self governance in India is understudied. By focusing on Trivandrum and Surat, among other things, this book gives us a deep understanding of why city governments function so differently in India. Counter-intuitive insights, especially about Kerala, abound. Urban India will become bigger and bigger in the coming years. Read this book to understand what is at stake!' Ashutosh Varshney, Brown University, USA

India and other countries chose a decentralised mode of delivering public services through elected local governments for increasing public welfare. However, great expectations of effective services, increased accountability and people's participation were widely belied in practice. Based on field research in cities of Gujarat, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, the book is a detailed examination of how state and local governments function and why decentralisation outcomes vary considerably. It locates the primary reason in governance practices that compromised autonomy and capacity of urban local governments. The book demonstrates that despite a constitutional mandate for decentralised governance, policy implementation got derailed in processes threading through laws, rules, and administrative actions. It shows how habitual practices create hidden institutional rigidities that thwart policy moves despite good intentions and democratic legitimacy. The book also discusses how to navigate policy to skirt hidden threats to successful implementation.

Dedication
Acknowledgements
Preface
List of Tables
List of Figures
Glossary
Abbreviations
Part I. Background: Chapter 1. Two Cities
Chapter 2. Approach and Argument
Part II. Local Capacity: Chapter 3. Running City Governments
Chapter 4. Organising City Governments
Part III. Accountability: Chapter 5. State-Local Relations
Chapter 6. Participation in City Governments
Part IV. Institutions, Policies and Implementation: Chapter 7. Theorising Decentralisation
Chapter 8. Governing Locally: Institutions and Policies
Chapter 9. Implementing 'Governing Locally'
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Regional government policies [JPRB], Regional government [JPR], Public administration [JPP]