Table Of ContentDEEPENING DEMOCRACY
This book examines the renewed interest and commitment that countries across
the world have shown in recent decades towards adopting models of decentralis-
ing, or “downsizing” the state, and moving towards more participatory models
of government.
It examines systems of decentralised development such as self-managing
co-operatives from a global and comparative perspective with a focus on
developing countries. Drawing on examples from Kerala and a few other states in
India, as well as Cuba, Bangladesh and South Africa among other countries, the
book offers critical perspectives on the positive impacts of these experiments and
the promises these offer for the future. It discusses the challenges of implementing
these models, how well these work in coordination with the civil society and
the state, issues of transparency and democratic oversight as well as corruption
and capture of power due to entrenched structures of inequality. The volume
analyses welfare and development models and self-management interventions
in countering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also looks at the merits
and demerits of decentralisation in countering the global socioeconomic and
environmental crisis and the rise of authoritarian populism in many countries.
The book will be of interest to students and researchers of development studies,
political science, business, community development, social justice as well as of
co-operative management programmes. It will also appeal to students of political
economy as well as development professionals, think tanks and policymakers.
Joseph Tharamangalam holds the Ayyankali Chair at Mahatma Gandhi
University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He is also Emeritus Professor of Sociology
at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada, and Adjunct Professor of
International Development Studies at St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada. He
has published extensively on agrarian struggles, human development, decentralisa-
tion and co-operativism in India, Cuba and elsewhere.
Jos Chathukulam is former Professor of Sri Ramakrishna Hegde Chair of
Decentralisation and Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change
(ISEC), Bengaluru, India. Currently, Chathukulam is the Director of Centre for
Rural Management (CRM), Kottayam, Kerala, India. He has done extensive research
on decentralisation and local governance across Indian states, Latin America and
Africa. He is an expert of ‘Devolution Index,’ which is used to compare the rate of
decentralisation across the Indian states.
DEEPENING
DEMOCRACY
Comparative Perspectives on
Decentralisation, Co-operativism
and Self-Managed Development
Edited by Joseph Tharamangalam
and Jos Chathukulam
Designed cover image: @ Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Joseph Tharamangalam and Jos
Chathukulam; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Joseph Tharamangalam and Jos Chathukulam to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for
their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-13283-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-13284-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-22848-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003228486
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
CONTENTS
List of Tables viii
List of Contributors ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xiv
Acronyms xv
1 Experiments in Deepening Democracy through
Decentralised Governance: An Overview 1
Joseph Tharamangalam and Jos Chathukulam
PART I
Concepts and Visions: Some Refections 17
2 Embedded Democracy 19
Patrick Heller
3 Socialist Construction and Commoning 32
Clif DuRand
4 Thinking beyond Capitalism 40
Errol Sharpe
5 COVID-19 Context in India and Working towards
Alternative Paradigms 52
M.A. Oommen
vi Contents
6 Social Suferings and Citizenship in the Context of COVID-19 70
P. Sanal Mohan
7 Democracy and Capitalism in the Time of COVID-19 86
Henry Veltmeyer
PART II
Decentralised Governance and Development in
Comparative Perspective 103
8 Roles of NGOs, State and For-Proft Actors in Improving
Maternal and Child Sector in Bangladesh: Towards a
Division of Labour? 105
Ahmed Tareq Rashid
9 Governance, Welfare-Based Development and COVID-19:
Sweden and Kerala in Comparative Perspective 120
Olle Törnquist
10 The Cure Remains a Symptom: Sub-national Government,
Democracy and Development in South Africa 135
Steven Friedman
11 Reorienting People’s Planning in Kerala 149
K.N. Harilal
12 The Capacity Conundrum in Decentralisation and Local
Governance: How Kerala Tackles It 163
Joy Elamon and K.U. Sukanya
13 Employment Creation at Decentralised Level through
Construction of Niche Structure 179
Sunil Ray
PART III
Experiments in Co-operativism, Decentralised
Governance and Self-Management 195
14 From Agricultural Co-operatives to Farmer Producer
Companies: Analysing the transition of Co-operativism
in India 197
K. Gireesan
Contents vii
15 Co-operativism to Manage COVID-19 210
Abhilash Babu and Sabu Thomas
16 Cuba’s Experiments with Co-operativism and Solidarity
Economies: A Move towards 21st-Century Socialism 220
Joseph Tharamangalam
PART IV
Conclusion 235
17 Lessons and Non-lessons 237
Joseph Tharamangalam and Jos Chathukulam
Index 243
TABLES
5.1 World, India and select country-wise distribution of cases,
recovery and death of COVID-19 54
5.2 COVID-19 trends in cumulative positive cases, cases
recovered, deaths and respective ratios in Kerala (selected
dates from 1 November 2020 through 24 July 2021) 62
5.3 COVID-19 daily positive cases, cases recovered and death
ratio (selected days from 1 November 2020 through 24
July 2021) 63
8.1 Trends in selected human development indicators of
Bangladesh 109
8.2 GDP growth percentage average years 109
8.3 Health expenditure as percentage share of GDP 110
8.4 Selected indicators of female human development in
Bangladesh 114
11.1 Share of productive sector expenditure in the total
expenditure 156
11.2 Tender savings of various tiers of LGs 157
14.1 Producer companies in India 202
14.2 Distribution of PCs by PUC 203
CONTRIBUTORS
Patrick Heller is the Lyn Crost Professor of Social Sciences and Professor of
Sociology and International Studies at Brown University, USA. His main area
of research is the comparative study of social inequality and democratic deep-
ening. He has authored and co-authored several books and numerous articles
on these and related subjects including Deliberation and Development: Rethinking
the Role of Voice and Collective Action in Unequal Societies. He has published arti-
cles on urbanisation, comparative democracy, social movements, development
policy, civil society and state transformation. His most recent project is Cities
of Delhi, conducted in collaboration with the Center for Policy Research. The
project explores the dynamics of governance and social exclusion in the capital
city of India.
Cliff DuRand is a Research Associate at the Center for Global Justice in Mexico,
which he co-founded in 2004. He is also the coordinator of Research Network in
Cuba and co-founder of the Radical Philosophy Association and the Progressive
Action Center, long the ‘home’ of the Left in Baltimore. For 40 years he was a
Professor of Social Philosophy at Morgan State University. His numerous books
and articles, as well as his continuing research and activism focus on globalisation,
participatory democracy and socialism.
Errol Sharpe is the co-owner and publisher at Fernwood Publishing. He holds
a master’s degree in Atlantic Canada Studies from Saint Mary’s University in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he also taught Sociology and Atlantic Canada
Studies for several years. He has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of
the Atlantic Publisher’s Marketing Association, the Word on the Street Halifax
and the Halifax North End Health Clinic. He is the author of three books and
numerous articles.
