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Decentralization , local governance , and social wellbeing in India: Do Local Governments Matter? Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies, 23. By Rani D. Mullen. London and New York: Routledge, 2012. xvi, 235 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$140.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-415-67065-4.
Decentralization, in recent years, has been advocated as an efficient means to deepen democracy and improve societal well-being at the local level. Some authors have argued that decentralization will effectively address the inefficiency of the Central Government in enhancing social well-being by enabling better local targeting and delivery of social services. Others have countered it by saying that decentralization might lead to widening disparities between localities, owing to a lack of local capacities, which might lead to local elite capture of public resources resulting in an inability to implement welfare programs. With differing arguments on decentralization and with countries restructuring administration and political power based on those claims, there is undoubtedly a need to undertake systematic research to investigate whether decentralization can enhance development outcomes and, if so, under what circumstances. Unfortunately, systematic comparison within country studies on decentralization are rare and studies on decentralization and its links with social well-being are rarer still.
The book under review, in which the author looks at how decentralization can help democracy take root and improve social outcomes at the local level, is an attempt to fill this gap. It provides a systematic analysis of the impact of decentralization on the delivery of social services at the local level within...