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India's urban slums exhibit dramatic variation in their access to local public goods and services - paved roads, piped water, trash removal, sewers, and streetlights. Why are some vulnerable communities able to demand and secure development from the state while others fail? Drawing on more than two years of fieldwork in the north Indian cities of Bhopal and Jaipur, Demanding Development accounts for the uneven success of India's slum residents in securing local public goods and services. Auerbach's theory centers on the political organization of slum settlements and the informal slum leaders who spearhead resident efforts to make claims on the state - in particular, those slum leaders who are party workers. He finds striking variation in the extent to which networks of party workers have spread across slum settlements. Demanding Development shows how this variation in the density and partisan distribution of party workers across settlements has powerful consequences for the ability of residents to politically mobilize to improve local conditions.
India's urban slums exhibit dramatic variation in their access to local public goods and services - paved roads, piped water, trash removal, sewers, and streetlights. Why are some vulnerable communities able to demand and secure development from the state while others fail? Drawing on more than two years of fieldwork in the north Indian cities of Bhopal and Jaipur, Demanding Development accounts for the uneven success of India's slum residents in securing local public goods and services. Auerbach's theory centers on the political organization of slum settlements and the informal slum leaders who spearhead resident efforts to make claims on the state - in particular, those slum leaders who are party workers. He finds striking variation in the extent to which networks of party workers have spread across slum settlements. Demanding Development shows how this variation in the density and partisan distribution of party workers across settlements has powerful consequences for the ability of residents to politically mobilize to improve local conditions.
1. Puzzling disparities at the margins of the city; 2. Setting the stage: governance and political parties in Urban India; 3. How party worker networks impact local development; 4. India's slum leaders; 5. Views from the ground: narratives from eight squatter settlements; 6. Party workers and public goods provision: evidence from 111 settlements; 7. Why party worker networks spread unevenly across settlements.
Explains the uneven success of India's slum dwellers in demanding and securing essential public services from the state.
Adam Michael Auerbach is an assistant professor in the School of International Service at American University, Washington, DC. His doctoral dissertation won the Best Fieldwork Award from the Comparative Democratization Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA), the Best Dissertation Award from the Urban and Local Politics Section of APSA, and APSA's Gabriel A. Almond Award for Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics. His research on politics and development in urban India has appeared in the American Political Science Review, Contemporary South Asia, Studies in Comparative International Development, World Development, and World Politics.
'Millions of people across the world live in urban slums. In this
important book, Auerbach asks why some slum communities feature
better living conditions than others. Based on rigorous,
multi-method research and deep contextual knowledge, he traces how
party workers broker access to public services and, against
conventional wisdom, shows that more diverse communities have
superior public goods provision precisely because they feature
multiple, competitive party worker networks.' Melani Cammett,
Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Harvard
University, Massachusetts
'Auerbach's book takes us to the forefront of contemporary
urbanization, examining how slum dwellers in India secure basic
services and infrastructure. Combining extensive qualitative
fieldwork with survey data, he finds that slums with dense networks
of party workers obtain more paved roads, drainage, and other
crucial infrastructure. This stellar example of multi-method
scholarship will help cement the 'urban turn' in comparative
politics.' Alison E. Post, University of California, Berkeley
'With this book, Auerbach emerges as a leader among scholars who
look at the urban poor from the inside out. His painstaking
ethnographic work and impressive original statistics persuade us
that without looking at slums' internal politics, little can be
predicted about service levels and other outcomes. Laying bare
these patterns of local politics, and explaining how they matter,
will remain Auerbach's abiding contributions to the study of the
poor in cities.' Anirudh Krishna, Edgar T. Thompson Professor of
Public Policy, Duke University, North Carolina
'Demanding Development significantly advances the literature on
democracy. Drawing on a wealth of ethnographic and survey
data, Auerbach paints a picture of Indian slums that sets a new
standard for depth and rigor. He lays waste to the widespread view
of slums as passive communities manipulated by politicians. In
a magisterial portrait of how slum politics actually work, Auerbach
shows us how slum dwellers mobilize to make claims, making the
powerful case that for all their diversity and desperation, slums
can be arenas of solidarity and political organization. Demanding
Development will fundamentally change the debate on the politics of
the urban poor.' Patrick Heller, Lyn Crost Professor of Social
Sciences, Brown University, Rhode Island
'The real merit of the book lies in explaining differentiated
responses from the slums, linked both to the forms and nature of
political mobilization, and its impact on the quality of public
service delivery … This multilayered book challenges us to rethink
our approach about the nature of political competition, party
organization, party leadership, ethnic politics, and the quality of
public service delivery.' Adnan Farooqui, The Book Review
'… the book is an interesting analysis of how the poorest of the
poor use democracy to 'demand development' in India while living in
a settlement which tends to be ignored in developing countries. It
is extremely well-written and it contains interesting qualitative
interviews that not only help explain the mechanism behind the
results, but also bring the slums to life for the reader.' Dr
Mahvish Shami, The London School of Economics and Political
Science
'Demanding Development is an impressive account of the local
political institutions that enable slum residents to demand public
goods. It is a compelling and convincing work, and should be
considered essential reading for anyone interested in distributive
politics, urban politics, political parties, clientelism, brokers,
and community-driven development. Highly recommended.' Sarah J.
Lockwood, Democratization
'Demanding Development is a pathbreaking book … The extensive,
immersive fieldwork provides a level of richness and complexity to
political brokerage that is rare and very welcome in the study of
distributive politics…The book will appeal to political scientists,
urban planners and development studies audiences who are interested
in better understanding the relationship between politics and
public services in Global South cities.' Veronica Herrera, Urban
Affairs Review
'The book makes an important contribution to understanding the
vibrancy and forms of citizen claim-making; how political parties
embed themselves in the social life of citizens; and how these
processes combine to produce differentiated access to public
services in urban India.' Anindita Adhikari, Economic and Political
Weekly
'Demanding Development represents a nuanced and authoritative
account of the mechanics of electoral mobilization and patronage on
the ground in slum settlements, highlighting brokers as the
lynchpin that connects these two forms of political activity.'
Adnan Naseemullah, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
'Demanding Development is an impressive work drawing on both
ethnographic research and a quantitative dataset. It helps one
understand the complex process of engagement of slum dwellers in
India to demand and avail public services through the channel of
local party leaders…We highly recommend this book to the social
science community studying comparative politics in South Asia in
the context of slum settlements' Environment and Urbanization
Asia
'Auerbach's book is filled with remarkable insights that emerge
from attentive questions … It is counterintuitive at times and
thoroughly thought-provoking.' Chinmay Tumbe, Urbanisation
'… Demanding Development provides a groundbreaking perspective on
how citizens build responsive state institutions from the bottom
up.' Journal of Development Studies
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