Bureaucratic rationality, political will, and state capacity

• Verfasst von: Mukherji, Rahul [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Jha, Himanshu [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Bureaucratic rationality, political will, and state capacity
• Titelzusatz: MGNREGS in undivided Andhra Pradesh
• Verf.angabe: Rahul Mukherji, Himanshu Jha
• Umfang: 8 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 15.12.2017
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Economic and political weekly
• Jahr Quelle: 2017
• Band/Heft Quelle: 52(2017), 49, S. 53-60
• ISSN Quelle: 2349-8846
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 156643744X

Abstract

The successful implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in undivided Andhra Pradesh underlines the triumph of citizen formation over patron-client politics, aided by a democratic politics. This article argues that its success in Andhra Pradesh depended heavily on how the ideas within the rural development bureaucracy interacted with the political executive. This synergy engendered a state’s capacity to insulate a committed bureaucracy from powerful farmers and construction companies who had a clear interest in thwarting the programme. Elections can in a democracy elevate citizen concern over particularistic populism, when political will is matched by ideational conviction in the bureaucracy.