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Participatory Governance in Urban Management and the Shifting Geometry of Power in Mumbai
Author(s) -
Zérah MarieHélène
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2009.01586.x
Subject(s) - citizen journalism , empowerment , corporate governance , citizenship , participatory development , politics , government (linguistics) , state (computer science) , middle class , dimension (graph theory) , function (biology) , space (punctuation) , public administration , power (physics) , governmentality , sociology , economic growth , business , political science , economics , finance , law , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , algorithm , evolutionary biology , computer science , pure mathematics , biology , physics , quantum mechanics
This article questions the participatory dimension of urban governance in Mumbai. Based on surveys of a number of participatory projects for urban services, it compares the differentiated impacts of participation in middle‐class colonies with those in slums. Results demonstrate that changing citizen–government relationships have led to the empowerment of the middle and upper middle class who harness the potential of new ‘invited space’ to expand their claims on the city and political space. In contrast, the poor end up on the losing side as NGOs function more as contracted agents of the State than as representatives of the poor. Direct community participation empowers influential community members, small private entrepreneurs and middlemen, and contributes to labour informalization. Ultimately, these processes consolidate a form of ‘governing beyond the State’ that promotes a managerial vision of participation and leads to double standards of citizenship.