ALTERNATIVES IN DEVELOPMENT: Local Politics and NGOs in China and India

Book Details:

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Author: Liyiyu, Abhijit Dasgupta

• Language: English

• Edition: 2024

• ISBN: 9789819974900

• Pages: 259 pages

• Cover: Hardback

About the Book
This book deals with the dynamics of local-level politics in China and India. China introduced new policies to restructure local politics in 1978. In place of communes, civil society organizations and cooperatives were introduced in villages. More changes came about with the introduction of the Organic Law of the Villagers' Committees of the People's Republic of China in 1998. The new local power structure includes state-sponsored institutions like Villagers Committees and the traditional civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-government organizations (NGOs).

As in China, local politics in India has undergone considerable changes over the last few decades. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were reformed in 1992 with a constitutional amendment act, enabling CSOs and NGOs to function more freely. Against this background, the book aims to present and compare two different models of local politics and development. This comparative perspective on China and India offers valuable insights for scholars of rural governance, rural transformation, and the role of grassroots CSOs and NGOs in shaping development programs in Asia's two most populous countries.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Civil Society Organizations in China

3. Transformations of the Civil Society Organizations

4. Civil Society Organizations and the State

5. Local Power Structure in an Indian State

6. Civil Society Organizations in West Bengal

7. Conclusions

About the Author / Editor
Liyiyu is Professor of Public Administration and Director of the Comparative Research Centre, School of Law and Politics, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, China. She has authored multiple books including Rural Civil Society and Rural Development in China and A Comparative Study of Social Governance in China and India.
Abhijit Dasgupta was Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. His key works include Growth with Equity, Displacement and Exile, and co-edited volumes on minorities, state, family, and kinship in Bengal.