Contributed articles.

Contributed articles.

Contributed articles.

Papers In The Volume Address Issues Like-Assessment Of Current Situation In Panchayats Participation Of Women In Local Governance, Implementation And Deviations Of Seventy Third Amendment. Self-Help Groups In Rural Development, Appropriation Of Power By Legislations, Officials Etc. Has Seven Papers By Senior Officers And Well-Known Persons.

For more than two centuries federalism has provided an example of how people can live together even as they maintain their diversity. While the implosion of the former Yugoslavia illustrates that federalism is not, and cannot be, a panacea, its abiding success in other countries shows that it is a system worth examining. The Handbook of Federal Countries, 2002, a project of the Forum of Federations – an international network that seeks to strengthen democratic governance by promoting dialogue on and understanding of the values, practices, principles, and possibilities of federalism – does exactly this, incorporating available information about existing federations in one place for easy, convenient reference.The Handbook of Federal Countries, 2002 includes articles on the twenty-one countries that classify themselves as federations as well as four whose systems incorporate sufficient elements of federalism that it is useful to include them. These articles – written by authors around the world – examine the development, institutions, constitutions, and dynamics of federalism and include tables containing current political/geographic and economic/social information. The Handbook also includes four comparative papers, each of which examines a theme of concern to federal countries: foreign policy in an era of globalization that increasingly encroaches on the jurisdiction of constituent units and demands their active participation; use of federalism to accommodate minorities; distribution of resources and power (fiscal federalism); and issues relating to regional autonomy and federalism in a European context.

A Foot in the Door is the culmination of research undertaken in the rural panchayats of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and brings the voices of Dalit women to the fore. The authors examine the patriarchal and caste-based barriers to Dalit women’s political participation in Panchayati Raj, and make it clear that without a more holistic approach, the panchayats will only continue to reinforce existing and undeniably violent hierarchies of caste and gender. Dalit women’s political participation remains a risky endeavour, and involves very little actual transfer of power. Getting ‘a foot in the door’ is not enough – the affirmative action that secures a Dalit woman’s right to enter the panchayats still, more often than not, silences them in the process of seeking active participation. An essential read for feminist and Dalit scholars working on issues of gender, caste and political participation, A Foot in the Door argues that there is a need for deep, systemic change at every level of governance.

How can a place be built and managed so that it is safe for people to live? Ironically, many governments and citizens keep on asking the same question after every new disaster. Why, even with high levels of investment in increasing government’s capacity to manage disasters, do the impacts of disasters continue to increase? What can the governments do differently? What is the role of local communities? Where should aid agencies invest? This book looks into these critical questions and highlights how current capacity development efforts might be resulting in the opposite—capacity crisis or capability trap. The book provides a new approach for the understanding and the developing of effective local capacity to reduce and manage future disaster impacts.

The revised edition of Robert Stern's book brings India's story up to date. Since its original publication in 1993, much has altered and yet central to the author's argument remains his belief in the remarkable continuity and vitality of India's social systems and its resilience in the face of change. This is a colourful, readable and comprehensive introduction to modern India. In a journey through its family households and villages, the author explains its long-lived and little understood caste and class systems, its venerable faiths and extraordinary ethnic diversity, its history as 'the jewel in the crown' of British imperialism and its post-Independence career as a major agricultural and industrial nation. While paradoxes abound in an India which is constantly transforming, Stern demonstrates how and why it remains the largest and most enduring democracy in the developing world.