State, Discourse, and Development in India

The Case of West Bengal's Panchayati Raj

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4140948
AutoresGlyn Williams (0000-0003-0293-5574, Keele University, autor correspondente)
Ano1997
Volume29
Fascículo12
Páginas2099-2112
Data de publicação1997-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/a292099
OpenAlexW1991613522
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas13

In this paper, I use the example of West Bengal's Panchayati Raj (local government reform) to address a number of wider issues of concern for geographers commentating on India's politics and development. Taking the work of Kaviraj as a point of entry, I examine the impact that the decentralisation of government has had on people's access to the state and on the internal politics of three rural communities in West Bengal. The complexities of the processes involved suggest that, rather than there being the unidirectional penetration of society by an 'alien' developmental state, rural Bengalis are able to make knowing use of the language and structures of modern government for their own ends. I end the paper by suggesting the possible consequences of these findings for Kaviraj's thesis, for accounts of a 'crisis' of India's developmental state, and for the discursive turn in development studies more broadly

BENGAL · Decentralization · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Government (linguistics · Panchayati raj · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socioeconomics · Sociology · State (computer science · West bengal · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Public Administration · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Urban Planning and Governance