GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: UNDERSTANDING POWER, SOCIALITY AND TRUST

Book Details:

• ISBN: 9789819604128

• Author: Amiya Kumar Das

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Binding: Hardback

• Number of Pages: 192

• Publication Year: 2025

• Sale Territory: India Only

About the Book
This book approaches grassroots governance and democracy from a sociological perspective, focusing on the dynamic interaction between the community and the State. It examines how state, governance, and community interrelate, offering insights into the performative aspects of political actors and citizens during elections in India. By highlighting the need to understand governance dynamics in India’s multi-ethnic society, the book navigates both micro and macro levels of democracy and governance.

Offering detailed explanations of formal and informal governance in everyday life, the book engages with key debates around community engagement in governance. It is an essential read for academics, researchers, activists, planners, and policymakers from fields such as sociology, public policy, social anthropology, development studies, politics, and regional development.

Contents

• Sociology of Governance and Grassroots Democracy

• Locating the State, Power, and Governance in the Social Sphere

• Seeing Like a Citizen: People’s Everyday Engagement with the State and Governance

• Documenting the Body: Entitlements and Paper Citizenship

• Rituals of the State: Enchanting Elections and Enacting Citizenship

• Corporatization of the State in the Neoliberal Era

About the Author
Amiya Kumar Das is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Coordinator of the Centre for Public Policy and Governance at Tezpur University, Assam. His research interests include Governance and Development, Sociology of Health and Illness. Some of his recent publications include Investigating Developmentalism: Notions of Development in the Social Sphere (co-edited, 2019), Neighbourhoods in Urban India: In Between Home and the City (co-edited, 2021), and Indigeneity, Citizenship and the State: Perspectives from India’s Northeast (co-edited, 2021). He is also a collaborator in the Feeding City Lab project at the University of Toronto, focusing on sustainable farming.