This book explores the informal patronage relations between urban slum-dwellers and service delivery organisations in Mumbai, India. It examines to what extent the people in the slums are subject to social and political exclusion. Delving into the roles of the slum-based mediators and local municipal councillors, it highlights the problems in the functioning of democracy at the ground level, as election candidates target vote banks with freebies and private sector funding to manage campaigns. It provides a comprehensive overview of the various actors within local municipal governance and democracy as also consequences for citizenship, urban poverty, public services and neo-liberal politics.

This book explores the informal patronage relations between urban slum-dwellers and service delivery organisations in Mumbai, India. It examines to what extent the people in the slums are subject to social and political exclusion. Delving into the roles of the slum-based mediators and local municipal councillors, it highlights the problems in the functioning of democracy at the ground level, as election candidates target vote banks with freebies and private sector funding to manage campaigns. It provides a comprehensive overview of the various actors within local municipal governance and democracy as also consequences for citizenship, urban poverty, public services and neo-liberal politics.

"The concern of the present work is to examine urban development and new localism with special reference to Mumbai. It views urban development in the present context as development taking place in the urban realm, with special emphasis on people-centred development (PCD) in Mumbai. The study traces the evolution of the concept of development from its growth-oriented approach to the present approach of PCD. In fact, development in general and urban development in particular, with emphasis on PCD, received scant attention in both the policy pronouncements as well as the programmes and plans made after independence. An effort is made in this study to develop the argument that urban development, of the people-centred kind, lends itself to sustainable cities, where government collaborates with the people through their civil society organisations to bring about change that is not only positive but also sustainable. It reiterates the relevance of the PCD paradigm in Mumbai and emphasises the inter-connectivity between civil society actors and government at all levels. The theoretical frame is reinstated in terms of salience of civil society, state-in-society perspective, social capital formation and viability of new localism. The conclusion drawn from the two Mumbai-based case studies constitutes the core of the empirical component based on qualitative research that is aimed at validating the theoretical formulations and features of PCD and new localism."

Poverty and governance are both issues high on the agenda of international agencies and governments in the South. With urban areas accounting for a steadily growing share of the world's poor people, an international team of researchers focused their attention on the hitherto little-studied relationship between urban governance and urban poverty. In their timely and in-depth examination of ten cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, they demonstrate that in many countries the global trends towards decentralization and democratization offer new opportunities for the poor to have an influence on the decisions that affect them. They also show how that influence depends on the nature of those democratic arrangements and decision-making processes at the local level, as well as on the ability of the poor to organize. The study involved interviews with key actors within and outside city governments, discussions with poverty groups, community organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as analyses of data on poverty, services and finance. This book presents insights, conclusions and practical examples that are of relevance for other cities. It outlines policy implications for national and local governments, NGOs and donor agencies, and highlights ways in which poor people can use their voice to influence the various institutions of city governance.

Political leaders and institutions across the Global South are continually failing to respond to the needs of their citizens. This incisive book sets out to establish the pathways to and outcomes of accountability in a development context, as well as to investigate the ways in which people can seek redress and hold their public officials to account.

Explains the uneven success of India's slum dwellers in demanding and securing essential public services from the state.

This book brings together diverse perspectives concerning uncertainty and climate change in India. Uncertainty is a key factor shaping climate and environmental policy at international, national and local levels. Climate change and events such as cyclones, floods, droughts and changing rainfall patterns create uncertainties that planners, resource managers and local populations are regularly confronted with. In this context, uncertainty has emerged as a "wicked problem" for scientists and policymakers, resulting in highly debated and disputed decision-making. The book focuses on India, one of the most climatically vulnerable countries in the world, where there are stark socio-economic inequalities in addition to diverse geographic and climatic settings. Based on empirical research, it covers case studies from coastal Mumbai to dryland Kutch and the Sundarbans delta in West Bengal. These localities offer ecological contrasts, rural–urban diversity, varied exposure to different climate events, and diverse state and official responses. The book unpacks the diverse discourses, practices and politics of uncertainty and demonstrates profound differences through which the "above", "middle" and "below" understand and experience climate change and uncertainty. It also makes a case for bringing together diverse knowledges and approaches to understand and embrace climate-related uncertainties in order to facilitate transformative change. Appealing to a broad professional and student audience, the book draws on wide-ranging theoretical and conceptual approaches from climate science, historical analysis, science, technology and society studies, development studies and environmental studies. By looking at the intersection between local and diverse understandings of climate change and uncertainty with politics, culture, history and ecology, the book argues for plural and socially just ways to tackle climate change in India and beyond. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003257585, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book, drawing on a political economic perspective of education development, is a comprehensive account of the question "why some education systems flourish while others falter." It provides a state-of-the-art review of the Vietnamese way of education development, figuring out the pitfalls, challenges and opportunities of neoliberal reform. It also sheds new light on the rise of neoliberal capitalism in contemporary Vietnam as the country intensifies its market-oriented economic transition. Starting from educational development concerns, this book differentiates the growth and development concepts in education. While "growth with limited development" is well reflected in many developing education systems, the Vietnamese experience of education development stands to provide readers with unique insights about education in developing economies, especially in understanding how a socialist-oriented education system is struggling to thrive in the times of neoliberal capitalism. Authored by scholars specialising in Vietnamese education and politics, the chapters address key issues pertaining to the political economy of education reform in Vietnam and the government’s enduring efforts to drive education toward international standards through its costly market-infused education reforms. This book will appeal to postgraduate students, educators, educational policy-makers and scholars interested in Vietnamese studies, Vietnam education reforms, education governance, education for sustainability, internationalisation of education and the politics of education reforms.

Democracy for Sale is an on-the-ground account of Indonesian democracy, analyzing its election campaigns and behind-the-scenes machinations. Edward Aspinall and Ward Berenschot assess the informal networks and political strategies that shape access to power and privilege in the messy political environment of contemporary Indonesia. In post-Suharto Indonesian politics the exchange of patronage for political support is commonplace. Clientelism, argue the authors, saturates the political system, and in Democracy for Sale they reveal the everyday practices of vote buying, influence peddling, manipulating government programs, and skimming money from government projects. In doing so, Aspinall and Berenschot advance three major arguments. The first argument points toward the role of religion, kinship, and other identities in Indonesian clientelism. The second explains how and why Indonesia's distinctive system of free-wheeling clientelism came into being. And the third argument addresses variation in the patterns and intensity of clientelism. Through these arguments and with comparative leverage from political practices in India and Argentina, Democracy for Sale provides compelling evidence of the importance of informal networks and relationships rather than formal parties and institutions in contemporary Indonesia.