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Oral democracy : deliberation in Indian village assemblies

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Oral Democracy studies citizens' voices in civic and political deliberations in India's gram sabhas (village assemblies), the largest deliberative institution in human history. It analyses nearly three hundred transcripts of gram sabhas, sampled within the framework of a natural experiment, allowing the authors to study how state policy affects the quality of discourse, citizens' discursive performances and state enactments embodied by elected leaders and public officials. By drawing out the varieties of speech apparent in citizen and state interactions, their analysis shows that citizens' oral participation in development and governance can be improved by strengthening deliberative spaces through policy. Even in conditions of high inequality and illiteracy, gram sabhas can create discursive equality by developing the 'oral competence' of citizens and establishing a space in which they can articulate their interests. The authors develop the concept of 'oral democracy' to aid the understanding of deliberative systems in non-Western and developing countries. This title is also available as Open Access.

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Detail Information

Series Title

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Call Number

320.840954 SAN o

Publisher

New York : Cambridge University Press., 2018

Collation

xi, 215p. : ill.

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781139095716

Classification

320.840954

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

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Subject(s)

Politics and government
India
Direct democracy
Discourse analysis--Political aspects
Gram sabha

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

by Paromita Sanyal and Vijayendra Rao

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