Democratization from Above The Logic of Local Democracy in the Developing World

Democratization from Above seeks to explain why some national and state governments in the developing world introduce reforms to make local governance more democratic while others neglect or actively undermine democracy at local levels of government. The study challenges conventional wisdom that local democratization is implemented as a means of granting more autonomy to local actors. Instead, Anjali Thomas Bohlken argues that local democratization offers higher level government elites who lack control over party organizational networks an alternative means of increasing the effectiveness of local intermediaries on whom these elites rely to mobilize political support. The book starts with a focus on India and uses original data, and a combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence, to show support for the argument. The study then relies on an original cross-national dataset to show how the argument helps explain the variation in the implementation of local democratization reforms across the developing world.

1. The puzzle of 'democratization from above'; 2. The strategic logic of local democratization; 3. Local intermediaries, local democratization, and political party organizations in India; 4. 'Constitutionalizing' local democracy: explaining the 1993 national constitutional amendments; 5. Intra-party competition and local democracy in the Indian states: a statistical analysis; 6. Intra-party competition and local governance reform in Kerala and Tamil Nadu; 7. Local politicians as intermediaries: the effect of village-level politicians on state-level elections; 8. The logic of local democratization across the developing world; 9. Implications of 'democratization from above'; 10. Data appendix: dataset on local democratization reforms in the developing world.

Anjali Thomas Bohlken is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. She received her Ph.D. from New York University in 2010. Bohlken specializes in comparative politics and political economy with an emphasis on India.