Political leaders and institutions across the Global South are continually failing to respond to the needs of their citizens. This incisive book sets out to establish the pathways to and outcomes of accountability in a development context, as well as to investigate the ways in which people can seek redress and hold their public officials to account. Providing a timely complement to the current literature on accountability, the book features contributions from a diverse range of experienced and up-and-coming scholars and practitioners across the globe. Chapters explore questions of how improved accountability relations emerge, under what conditions they can be maintained, and what role civil-society actors, donors, and new ICT tools can and should play in developing countries. Integrating empirical case studies from Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia with a strong theoretical framework on accountability relations, the book delivers a comprehensive analysis of accountability initiatives across the Global South and ultimately reflects on how they contribute to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16. This insightful book will be an essential resource for academics, policymakers, and practitioners worldwide who are engaged in enhancing public sector accountability and implementing SDG 16. It will also help to guide social movements and citizen-led action.

Caste in India, despite its historical resilience, has been undergoing transformation since independence. If caste as a system of rigid stratification has been on the decline, castes as autonomous interest-serving groups have been on ascendance. This book critically engages with the changing notions of caste and its intersection with public policy in India. It discusses key issues such as social security, internal reservation, the idea of Most Backward Classes, caste issues among non-Hindu religious communities, caste in census, caste in market, and service castes and urban planning. Drawing on in-depth case studies from states including Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal, the volume explores the cyclical process of how caste drives policies, and how policies in turn shape the reality of caste in India. It looks at the impact of factors like protective discrimination, adult franchise and democratic decentralisation, horizontal and vertical mobilisation, land reforms, and religious conversion on social mobility, and traditional hierarchy in India. Empirically rich and analytically rigorous, this book will be an excellent reference for scholars and researchers of public policy, public administration, sociology, exclusion studies, social work, law, history, economics, political science, development studies, social anthropology, and political sociology. It will also be of interest to public policy and development practitioners.

Caste in India, despite its historical resilience, has been undergoing transformation since independence. If caste as a system of rigid stratification has been on the decline, castes as autonomous interest-serving groups have been on ascendance. This book critically engages with the changing notions of caste and its intersection with public policy in India. It discusses key issues such as social security, internal reservation, the idea of Most Backward Classes, caste issues among non-Hindu religious communities, caste in census, caste in market, and service castes and urban planning. Drawing on in-depth case studies from states including Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal, the volume explores the cyclical process of how caste drives policies, and how policies in turn shape the reality of caste in India. It looks at the impact of factors like protective discrimination, adult franchise and democratic decentralisation, horizontal and vertical mobilisation, land reforms, and religious conversion on social mobility, and traditional hierarchy in India. Empirically rich and analytically rigorous, this book will be an excellent reference for scholars and researchers of public policy, public administration, sociology, exclusion studies, social work, law, history, economics, political science, development studies, social anthropology, and political sociology. It will also be of interest to public policy and development practitioners.

This edited volume brings together debates from the Global South and Global East to explore alternatives to conventional planning in Southern cities. Embracing the evolving post-colonial theory, the volume offers 'fragments' of the urban that provide clues to the larger, often-repeated ontological question that continues to hold: Why and what does theory from the South mean? The chapters derive from and speak to the simultaneously homogenous and heterogeneous South. They focus on presenting the alternative realities of Southern cities as critical analytical lenses that can build up to the theorisation of the Southern urban with a potential to (re)understand the contemporary urban world. The contributions explore locally rooted knowledge systems, premised on social and cultural practices, as possible conduits to evolving planning methods. In doing so, the volume breaks apart the linear modernity that urban theory from the North relies on. Chapters [Chapter-1] and [Chapter-11] are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book explores the convergence of law and public policy. Drawing on case studies from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Australia, it examines how judicial and political institutions are closely linked to the socio-economic concerns of the citizens. The essays argue for the utilization of both legislative and executive, private and public spheres of society as vehicles for transformative social change and to safeguard against violations of socio-economic rights. The volume will be of great interest to both public and private stakeholders, as well as professionals, including NGOs and think tanks, working in the areas of law, government, and public policy. It will also be immensely useful to academics and researchers of constitutionalism, policymaking and policy integration, social justice and minority rights.

This book examines how property rights are linked to socio-economic progress and development. It also provides a theoretical analysis, an economic/social analysis of planning, case studies of the implementation of planning and regulation instruments, practices related to law and planning, analysis of case laws in a particular segment. The interconnection between property, law and planning is a running theme throughout the book. The land question has been central to South Asian development on two counts: First, although the majority of the population relies on agriculture and allied activities their livelihood, landholding is highly skewed; second, urban planning is facing unprecedented challenges due to bourgeoning property values as well as gush of migrants to cities seeking livelihood. The response to these challenges in the form of laws and policies has been very large compared to the academic attention that is received. However, the measures emerging from planning and policies have had limited impact on the extent of the problems. This paradox calls for serious introspection and academic engagement that this book undertakes. The book further deals with the emerging discipline of planning law, which determines property value and use, and argues that regulatory issues of public policy determine the property valuation and property pricing.

This book explores the convergence of law and public policy. Drawing on case studies from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Australia, it examines how judicial and political institutions are closely linked to the socio-economic concerns of the citizens. The essays argue for the utilization of both legislative and executive, private and public spheres of society as vehicles for transformative social change and to safeguard against violations of socio-economic rights. The volume will be of great interest to both public and private stakeholders, as well as professionals, including NGOs and think tanks, working in the areas of law, government, and public policy. It will also be immensely useful to academics and researchers of constitutionalism, policymaking and policy integration, social justice and minority rights.

This book examines how property rights are linked to socio-economic progress and development. It also provides a theoretical analysis, an economic/social analysis of planning, case studies of the implementation of planning and regulation instruments, practices related to law and planning, analysis of case laws in a particular segment. The interconnection between property, law and planning is a running theme throughout the book. The land question has been central to South Asian development on two counts: First, although the majority of the population relies on agriculture and allied activities their livelihood, landholding is highly skewed; second, urban planning is facing unprecedented challenges due to bourgeoning property values as well as gush of migrants to cities seeking livelihood. The response to these challenges in the form of laws and policies has been very large compared to the academic attention that is received. However, the measures emerging from planning and policies have had limited impact on the extent of the problems. This paradox calls for serious introspection and academic engagement that this book undertakes. The book further deals with the emerging discipline of planning law, which determines property value and use, and argues that regulatory issues of public policy determine the property valuation and property pricing.

The shame experienced by people living in poverty has long been recognised. Nobel laureate and economist, Amartya Sen, has described shame as the "irreducible core" of poverty. However, little attention has been paid to the implications of this connection in the making and implementation of anti-poverty policies. This important volume rectifies this critical omission and demonstrates the need to take account of the psychological consequences of poverty for policy to be effective. Drawing on pioneering empirical research in countries as diverse as Britain, Uganda, Norway, Pakistan, India, South Korea and China, it outlines core principles that can aid policy makers in policy development. In so doing, it provides the foundation for a shift in policy learning on a global scale and bridges the traditional distinctions between North and South, and high-, middle- and low-income countries. This will help students, academics and policy makers better understand the reasons for the varying effectiveness of anti-poverty policies.

The shame experienced by people living in poverty has long been recognised. Nobel laureate and economist, Amartya Sen, has described shame as the "irreducible core" of poverty. However, little attention has been paid to the implications of this connection in the making and implementation of anti-poverty policies. This important volume rectifies this critical omission and demonstrates the need to take account of the psychological consequences of poverty for policy to be effective. Drawing on pioneering empirical research in countries as diverse as Britain, Uganda, Norway, Pakistan, India, South Korea and China, it outlines core principles that can aid policy makers in policy development. In so doing, it provides the foundation for a shift in policy learning on a global scale and bridges the traditional distinctions between North and South, and high-, middle- and low-income countries. This will help students, academics and policy makers better understand the reasons for the varying effectiveness of anti-poverty policies.

Social protection, in the context of informal economy, is a challenging task. When traditional societies transform into modern state and their economies prosper, formal social protection becomes indispensable. A new dynamics of the symbiotic existence of informal and formal social protection takes place. This generates a politics that shapes the access to social protection. Empirical examination of the promotive and protective social protection programmes (employment guarantee scheme and income maintenance programme) of rural India reveals that both eligibility and entitlement to 'welfare rights' are contested within the power structure of the local communities. Micro-politics within the household, social groups and communities as well as macro-politics of the political parties and internationalism interface each other in the politics of social protection. This is unraveled by examining the network of poor people in the villages of India. The path-breaking research into the multilayered politics of state, market, civil society and households, through innovative methodologies, shows how competing interests in the society shape the public policies.