1st Edition
Deepening Democracy Comparative Perspectives on Decentralization, Cooperativism and Self-Managed Development
This 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 self-management interventionsin countering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also looks at the meritsand demerits of decentralisation in countering the global socioeconomic and environmental crisis and the rise of authoritarian populism in many countries.
The book will be of interest to students and researchers of development studies, political science, business, community development, social justice as well as of co-operative management programmes. It will also appeal to students of political economy as well as development professionals, think tanks and policymakers.
Biography
Joseph Tharamangalam holds the Ayyankali Chair at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He is also Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada and Adjunct Professor of International Development Studies at St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada. He has published extensively on agrarian struggles, human development, decentralisation and co-operativism in India, Cuba and elsewhere.
Jos Chathukulam is former Professor of Sri. Ramakrishna Hegde Chair Professor of Decentralization and Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) Bengaluru, India. Currently, Chathukulam is the Director of Centre for Rural Management (CRM), Kottayam, Kerala, India. He has done extensive research on decentralisation and local governance across Indian states, Latin America and Africa. He is an expert of 'Devolution Index', which is used to compare the rate of decentralisation across the Indian states.
