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- Convenor:
-
Kunal Sen
(University of Manchester)
- Location:
- Room 214
- Start time:
- 29 July, 2016 at
Time zone: Europe/Warsaw
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
South asia is characterised by significant variation in measures of social progress. this panel will look at the political drivers of inclusive development in south asia, focusing on the role of state
Long Abstract:
A key component of inclusive development is the ability of states to deliver high quality basic services such as education and health to citizens, and to provide large-scale social protection programmes that reach excluded groups in particular, as well as inclusive growth. The failure of governments to deliver high quality social provisioning and inclusive growth can be attributed to weaknesses in state capacity and lack of commitment among the elite. The papers will explore the particular ways in which the underlying forms of politics and power relations that shapes the capacity of states and the commitment of elites to delivering development within different policy domains.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Ritanjan Das (University of Portsmouth)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the politics of ideological ambiguities and factional tension in the Left Front/CPIM's transition from a state-led to an industrialisation-led development approach in West Bengal.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines a distinct chapter in the era of economic reforms in India: the case of West Bengal, and narrates the politics behind a much debated policy transition brought by the Left Front government (1977-2011). Historically, the Front gained high popularity as a pro-poor government owing to its land reforms, democratic decentralisation initiatives, and a strong opposition to economic reforms. The onset of liberalisation in India (in 1991) thus created serious political dilemma for the Front and its leader (the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM)), as despite an ideological opposition, it was now compelled to court private/foreign investment. However, embarking on such a transition created serious ambiguities both within the CPIM and the Front. The problems intensified during the 2000s as the CPIM strongly advocated for an industrialisation led development approach, prompting questions about its ideological orientation. Many held an erosion of the 'Left' class character as the primary reason behind the Front's eventual defeat in 2011.
This paper tries to trace the roots of some of these contradictions in the CPIM/Front's development narrative by examining (a) the transition in its industrial policy, (b) associated ideological ambiguities, (c) (limited) negotiation and factional tension both within the CPIM and the Front. It also contextualises West Bengal against wider political economic trends of the time, and tries to establish the broader point that transition in development narratives, particularly for Left/pro-labour parties, requires a more nuanced analysis than the oft repeated accusation of ideological aberration.
Selim Raihan (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Paper short abstract:
This paper shows how elite political settlements over time have influenced economic growth in Bangladesh.
Paper long abstract:
This paper shows how elite political settlements over time have influenced economic growth in Bangladesh. More concretely, the paper focuses on the analysis of economic, institutional and political economy conditions behind structural break in economic growth, phases of growth acceleration and transitions in growth regimes in Bangladesh. These involves analysis of the pattern of structural change in the economy, mapping of the rent generation and rent allocations process in different sectors, discussions of the institutional space, i.e., delineation of the nature of formal and informal institutions that tend to affect the firm's behavior and analysis of the deals environment of the business. The paper also explore the incentives and ideology/vision of the political, state and economic elites, the nature of state-business relations and the influence of de facto growth coalitions to explain the dynamics of current trends and future prospects of growth in Bangladesh.
Kunal Sen (University of Manchester)
Paper short abstract:
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is India’s largest and best resourced social welfare programme. In the tenth anniversary of its implementation, we evaluate the success of the NREGA in achieving its broader development objectives.
Paper long abstract:
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is India’s largest and best resourced social welfare programme (with a budget of 8.91 billion USD or 1.3 per cent of total central government spending), and the world’s largest social security intervention in terms of household coverage. In the tenth anniversary of its implementation, we evaluate the success of the NREGA by asking three questions about the efficacy of the NREGA as a flagship social protection programme of the Indian government: a) how has the NREGA achieved its broader development objectives?, b) why has implementation of the NREGA been a challenge, and what have been the determinants of successful (and unsuccessful) implementation? c) what have been the implications of weak implementation of the NREGA (wherever it has occurred) for the broader development objectives of the Act? We conclude that the NREGA has radically transformed the manner that poor rural households view their rights as citizens, as well as been a critical source of livelihoods for many of the poorest households at times when no work was available in private rural labour markets. However, the NREGA has not been a complete success due to poor implementation, and we attribute this to weak state capacity and wavering political commitment to the programme.
Sohela Nazneen (Institute of Development Studiesies, University of Sussex)
Paper short abstract:
Using a political settlement lens the paper investigates what factors influence political elites to promote gender equity concerns in a competitive-clientelist context, where informal relations and patronage based politics play key roles.
Paper long abstract:
Recently, Bangladesh has made significant gains in advancing women's rights and promoting gender equitable policy changes. The adoption of a law addressing domestic violence is an important part of this change. How and why were the political elites motivated to adopt legal reforms addressing domestic violence in a country where gender equity concerns have very little currency in mainstream politics? Using a political settlement lens (Khan 2010) and based on empirical research, this paper explores the following questions: a) what led the political elites to enact a domestic violence law?; b) what role did women and their allies play in this process?; and c) why do some of the failures in implementation persist? The paper goes beyond the usual focus on the role of women policymakers or women's ministry or women presence in formal politics by investigating what influences political elites to promote gender equity concerns in a competitive-clientelist context. The paper explores how the informal relationships between the members of the policy coalition formed by civil society groups and the political elites and the strong international pressure at a time when the government needed support of secular groups created 'windows of opportunity' (McAdam, 2011) for enactment of the law. The paper illustrates how subversion of the formal rules may work to advance women's rights in policy spaces and how gains made in implementing gender equity policies are linked to the patronage- based resource distribution issues for policy actors.