Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies
This book studies citizens鈥� voices in civic and political deliberations in India鈥檚 gram sabhas (village assemblies)
Abstract
Oral Democracy studies citizens鈥� voices in civic and political deliberations in India鈥檚 gram sabhas (village assemblies), the largest deliberative institution in human history. It analyzes nearly 300 transcripts of gram sabhas, sampled within the framework of a natural experiment, allowing the authors to study how state policy affects the quality of discourse, citizens鈥� discursive performances, and state enactments embodied by elected leaders and public officials. By drawing out the varieties of speech apparent in citizen and state interactions, their analysis shows that citizens鈥� oral participation in development and governance can be improved by strengthening deliberative spaces through policy. Even in conditions of high inequality and illiteracy, gram sabhas can create discursive equality by developing the 鈥渙ral competence鈥� of citizens and establishing a space in which they can articulate their interests. 皇冠体育app authors develop the concept of 鈥渙ral democracy鈥� to aid the understanding of deliberative systems in non-Western and developing countries.
This is an output of the World Bank鈥檚 Strategic Research Program
Citation
Vijayendra Rao and Paromita Sanyal, Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, December 2018