Democracy, Development, and the Countryside: Urban-Rural Struggles in India

What happens to the rural folk—to their power and economic well-being—when development takes place in a democratic framework? Focusing on India where, unlike most of the developing world, a democratic system has flourished for four decades, this book investigates how the rural sector uses its numbers in a democracy to further its economic and political interests. The book also argues that identities constitute a powerful constraint on the pursuit of economic interests.