Governance and Development in India: A Comparative Study on Andhra Pradesh and Bihar after Liberalization

251 Pages·2018·2.839 MB·English

by  Seyed Hossein Zarhani

Governance and Development
in India
The study of the political economy of development in India is significant as India
has emerged as one of the fastest-g rowing countries during the last three decades
and the rate of economic growth and poverty reduction have not been matched
in India’s subnational states. Although the Union Government has introduced
and implemented several economic reforms since 1991 to enhance the economic
development, the results of implantation have varied.
Governance and Development in India compares two Indian subnational
states, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. The book does not consider the state as an
aggregate entity; rather, it disaggregates the state relationally and spatially. Con-
centrating on the micro-i nstitutional variables and the role of regional elites, the
author investigates the political roots of the divergence of development traject-
ories among India’s subnational states since liberalization, as an essential aspect
of the political economy of development in India. The book explores the black
box of the multi-l ayered state of India and interactions among the Central Gov-
ernment, the states, regional leaders and other stakeholders and explains why the
regional leaders have pursued divergent economic strategies using the analytical
narrative research method and the subnational comparative research method.
Firmly based on the theoretical foundations of the neo-i nstitutional rational
choice model of governance, polycentric hierarchy theory and the strategies for
regional elite strategy analysis, combined with empirical research, this book is a
valuable contribution to the fields of comparative political economy, state pol-
itics in India, governance and development in developing countries, and South
Asian comparative politics.
Seyed Hossein Zarhani is a post-d octoral research fellow and lecturer at the
Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University,
Germany.
Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies
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32 India- China Relations
Politics of Resources, Identity and Authority in a Multipolar World Order
Jagannath P. Panda
33 Indigenous Identity in South Asia
Making Claims in the Colonial Chittagong Hill Tracts
Tamina M. Chowdhury
34 Gender Justice and Proportionality in India
Comparative Perspectives
Juliette Gregory Duara
35 Governance and Development in India
A Comparative Study on Andhra Pradesh and Bihar after Liberalization
Seyed Hossein Zarhani
For a full list of titles, please see: wwwroutledge.com/asianstudies/series/RASAS
Governance and Development
in India
A Comparative Study on Andhra Pradesh
and Bihar after Liberalization
Seyed Hossein Zarhani
First published 2019
by Routledge
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© 2019 Seyed Hossein Zarhani
The right of Seyed Hossein Zarhani to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978-0-8153-6831-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-25520-2 (ebk)
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For Samareh and Saba

Contents
List of figures x
List of tables xii
Foreword xiii
Preface and acknowledgments xiv
List of abbreviations xvii
1 Introduction: the puzzle of divergent development
trajectories within a debated (non-)developmental state 1
Casting the context 1
Ongoing debate: the role of the state in development in India 6
Statement of the problem and significance of study 8
Gaps in the existing literature 14
Selection of the cases 17
Locating puzzle 20
Arguments and hypotheses 23
Methodological approaches and their implications 27
Chapter outline 29
2 State of art: governance and comparative political economy 33
Introduction 33
Defining governance: complexities and diversities 33
Governance: categorizing the definitions and approaches 36
The World Bank, neo- liberalism, and good governance 38
Good governance and the study of interrelations of governance
and development in India 46
Neo- institutionalism, governance, and comparative political
economy 47
Neo- statism and study of development in India 51
Final remarks: governance beyond good governance in the Indian
context 53
viii Contents
3 Theoretical framework 57
Introduction 57
Neo- institutional rational choice model of governance 58
Polycentric hierarchy theory 59
Regional elite strategy analysis 61
Conclusion 64
4 Elite agency and development in Andhra Pradesh (I):
confrontation and populism in the age of Tollywood
superstar 67
Introduction 67
State profile 68
Pre- 1990s politics in Andhra Pradesh 72
From the one dominant party system to a two parties system 79
Economic populism and identity politics in the TDP (I) regime:
seeking the horizontal rewards 86
The coup in TDP and the rise of Chandrababu Naidu 91
Conclusion 93
5 Elite agency and development in Andhra Pradesh (II):
pragmatism, cooperation, and pro- growth policies in the era
of the CEO of Andhra Pradesh 95
Introduction 95
From charismatic populism to pragmatist technocracy: the
rational actor and the horizontal determinants 96
The vertical game: the TDP as a member of the NDA – the
Congress as the enemy, both at the State and the Center 103
Andhra Pradesh as a developmental (subnational) state in the TDP
regime 105
Y.S. Reddy and the rise of new charismatic populism 122
The reemergence of the Telangana movement 126
Conclusion 130
6 Elite agency and development in Bihar (I): confrontation
and populism in the era of ‘Gharibon Ka Masiha’ 133
Introduction 133
State profile 134
Pre- 1990s politics in Bihar 140
The period between 1967 and 1972 143
The period between 1972 and 1977 145
The period between 1977 and 1979 149
The period between 1980 and 1990 149
Contents ix
Fall of the Congress, rise of the JD, and lower caste politics 152
Lalu Prasad Yadav as a charismatic leader 154
The vertical game: JD/RJD in the State and Congress/BJP in the
Center 156
Economic populism and identity politics in the RJD regime 158
Bihar as a dysfunctional state 160
The vertical game and dynamics of reform resistance 161
Conclusion 165
7 Elite agency and development in Bihar (II): pragmatism,
cooperation, and reforms in the era of Sushasan Babu 168
Introduction 168
The end of ‘Jungle Raj’ and the rise of Nitish Kumar 168
Nitish Kumar and the new developmental paradigm: change in the
horizontal game 170
Bihar as a developmental (subnational) state under the JD (U)
rule 172
Developmental elite at the state level: Nitish Kumar as Sushasan
Babu 173
Sushasan as the symbol of change 174
Policy reforms and initiatives in Bihar 175
A subnational state and international aid agencies: Bihar and the
World Bank 180
Nitish Kumar and the Center: the vertical game 181
Conclusion 182
8 Conclusion: a transformed institutional arrangement,
rational regional leaders, and development 184
The problem restated 184
The post-r eform era in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh 185
The strategic choice of regional leaders: populist economic
policies in the horizontal game and confrontation with the
Center in the vertical game 188
The strategic choice of regional leaders: cooperation with the
Center implementation of reform agenda 192
Central transfers as a tool for reward and punishment 197
Final remarks 199
Glossary 202
Bibliography 204
Index 224