Local Democracy and Development: The Kerala People’s Campaign for Decentralized Planning

In this definitive history, a key figure in the People’s Campaign in Kerala provides an insider’s account of one of the world’s most extensive and successful experiments in decentralization. Launched in 1996, the campaign mobilized over 3 million of Kerala’s 30 million people and resulted in bottom-up development planning in all 1,052 of its villages and urban neighborhoods. The authors detail the background of the campaign, trace its stages, assess problems and successes, and evaluate concrete results and reforms.
Local Democracy and Development tells a powerful story of mass mobilization and innovation as bureaucratic opposition was overcome, corruption and cynicism were rooted out, and parliamentary democracy prevailed. Considering both the theoretical and applied significance of the campaign both in the context of India’s development since independence and of recent international debates about decentralization, civil society, and empowerment, this study provides invaluable lessons for sustainable development worldwide.