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Abstract
Although democratic decentralisation or community development by elected leaders is hypothesised to broaden development, there is little evidence on just how elected leaders make distributional decisions and far less on how communities in turn shape their leaders' decisions. This study combines structural equation modelling with ethnography in India to investigate how leaders of elected local bodies called panchayats distribute development. While quantitative findings reveal that democratic decentralisation mitigates elite capture, ethnography gives insight into the role of political brokers in brokering development for votes, widening distribution to non elite groups.
Acknowledgements
Funding for the fieldwork on which this article is based was provided by the George Warren Brown School of Social Work and the Center for New Institutional Social Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis. Thanks are due to Anirudh Krishna and Carolyn Lesorogol for sharing their questionnaires which helped craft the instrument used in this study, and to Jin Huang and Paul Sacco for help with structural equation modeling. David Gillespie and Carolyn Lesorogol commented on a preliminary version of this article, and two anonymous referees gave very constructive comments on an earlier draft.
Notes
1. The names of villages have been changed.
2. Interview with Sarawwati Mahila Swasahaay Juth self help group member on 29 November 2006.
3. Participant observation of watershed development teams' report to the DRDA Director, Dahod, 4 September 2006.
4. Interview with Limkheda watershed development team member, 7 June 2007.
5. Gayatri Apang Swasahaay Juth self-help group register, 2003–2007.
6. Interview with GASJ's chairperson, 21 March 2007.
7. Interviews with GASJ's Baria and Patel members, 17 June 2007.
8. GASJ self-help group register, 2003–2007.
9. GASJ self-help group register, 2003–2007 and interview with GASJ's chairperson, 21 March 2007.
10. NTGCF Spear Head Team Dahod Mahipura village files.
11. Interview with the sarpanch, 19 January 2007.
12. Patels' letter dated 25 September 2004.
13. Interview with Patel leader BS, 30 April 2007.
14. Interviews with Mahalakshmi Mahila Mandal and Shri Pawan Putra Mahila Mandal self-help group leaders, 25 March 2007.
15. Interviews with Sant Kabir Mahila Swasahaay Juth self-help group leaders, 28 March 2007.