Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia

What explains the variation in service delivery in Indian cities -- its power and welfare -- when development takes place in a semi-democratic, fast industrialising framework? How does urbanisation affect the accountability relationships between voters and politicians in Indian democracies? By examining politics in Indian cities, bureaucratic – politician interactions, participation and party competition the dissertation would like to expand upon theories about the emergence of programmatic politics, the determinants of turnout, patterns of distributive politics, the importance of local ethnic geography, and the underlying causes of ethnic political competition in new democracies.