Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the renewed interest and commitment that countries across the world have shown in recent decades towards adopting models of decentralising, or downsizing the state, and moving towards more participatory models of government.
It examines systems of decentralised development such as self-managing co-operatives from a global and comparative perspective with a focus on developing countries. Drawing on examples from Kerala and a few other states in India, as well as Cuba, Bangladesh and South Africa among other countries, the book offers critical perspectives on the positive impacts of these experiments and the promises these offer for the future. It discusses the challenges of implementing these models, how well these work in coordination with the civil society and the state, issues of transparency and democratic oversight as well as corruption and capture of power due to entrenched structures of inequality. The volume analyses welfare and development models and
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Experiments of Deepening Democracy Through Decentralized Governance: An Overview Part I - Concepts and Visions: Some Reflections 2. Embedded Democracy 3. Socialist Construction and Commoning 4. Thinking Beyond Capitalism 5. Covid 19 Context in India and Working Towards Alternative Paradigms 6. Citizenship and Social Suffering in the Context of Covid 19 Part II - Decentralized Governance and Development in Comparative Perspective 7. Roles of NGOs, State and For-Profit Organizations in Improving Maternal and Child Sector in Bangladesh: Towards a Division of Labour 8. Comparative Notes on the Pros and Cons of Decentralization in the Context of the Corona Crisis 9. The Cure Remains a Symptom: Sub-National Government, Democracy and Development in South Africa 10. Democratic Decentralization in Kerala: A Critique of Recent Experience 11. The Capacity Conundrum, Decentralization and Local Governance: How Kerala Tackles It 12. Employment Creation at Decentralized Level Through Construction of Niche Structure and Promotion of Self-Organization Part III - Experiments in Cooperativism, Decentralized Governance and Self-Management 13. Workers’ Self-Management in Argentina: Contesting Neo-Liberalism by Occupying Companies, Creating Cooperatives, and Recuperating Autogestión 14. Factory Takeovers for Production Under Self-Management: Three Examples From Europe 15. Cooperativism to Manage Covid 19 16. From Agricultural Cooperatives to Farmer Producing Companies – Analyzing the Transition of Cooperativism in India Part IV - Conclusion
