The Anatomy of Failure : An Ethnography of a Randomized Trial to Deepen Democracy in Rural India
Programs that induce citizen participation to improve the quality of government at the local level are the subjects of large amounts of funding and intense debate. This paper combines a randomized control trial of a citizenship training and facilit...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/19749946/anatomy-failure-ethnography-randomized-trial-deepen-democracy-rural-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19368 |
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okr-10986-193682021-04-23T14:03:51Z The Anatomy of Failure : An Ethnography of a Randomized Trial to Deepen Democracy in Rural India Ananthpur, Kripa Malik, Kabir Rao, Vijayendra ACCOUNTABILITY AUDITS BAD PEOPLE BANKS BENEFICIARIES BRIBE BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS CITIZEN CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT CITIZEN PARTICIPATION CITIZENS CITIZENSHIP CIVIL SOCIETY COLLAPSE COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY LEADERS COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION CONFIDENCE CONSULTATION CONSULTATIONS CONSULTATIVE PROCESS CONTROL GROUPS CORRUPT CORRUPTION CPI CREDIBILITY CRIMINAL DATA COLLECTION DECISION MAKING DEMOCRACIES DEMOCRACY DESCRIPTION DISTRICTS ECONOMIC POLICIES ENGINEER FACILITATORS FEMALE FOCUS GROUP FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS GENDER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GOVERNMENT SERVICES HOMES HOUSEHOLDS HOUSING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IMPACT EVALUATION IMPACT OF INTERVENTIONS INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INEQUALITY INITIATIVE INTEREST GROUPS INTERMEDIARIES INTERVENTION INTERVENTIONS INTERVIEWS INVESTIGATION INVESTIGATOR INVESTIGATORS JUSTICE LEARNING LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION LITERACY RATES LOCAL AUTHORITIES LOCAL CAPACITY LOCAL GOVERNANCE LOCAL POLITICIANS MISAPPROPRIATION MOBILIZATION NEIGHBORHOOD NEPOTISM NGO OLIGARCHY OPENNESS PARTICIPANT OBSERVERS PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY PARTICIPATORY PLANNING PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES PARTICIPATORY PROJECTS PATRONAGE POLICE POLICY INTERVENTION POLITICAL COMPETITION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL PARTICIPATION POLITICAL SYSTEM POOR GOVERNANCE PRIMARY SCHOOL PROGRAM EVALUATION PROGRAMS PROJECT EVALUATION PUBLIC FUNDS PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS QUALITATIVE DATA QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICES QUANTITATIVE DATA QUANTITATIVE SURVEYS RECONSTRUCTION RIGHT TO INFORMATION RURAL COMMUNITIES RURAL DEVELOPMENT SAFETY SAMPLE SIZE SANCTION SELF-HELP SERVICE DELIVERY SHG SOCIAL CONDITIONS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS SOCIAL NETWORKS SOCIAL SCIENCE SOCIAL WORK SPILLOVER EFFECTS STATE GOVERNMENT TARGETING TAX COMPLIANCE TRANSPARENCY TREATMENT EFFECTS TREATMENT GROUPS TRIAL VILLAGE VILLAGE LEVEL VILLAGE MEETINGS VILLAGES VIOLENCE YOUTH Programs that induce citizen participation to improve the quality of government at the local level are the subjects of large amounts of funding and intense debate. This paper combines a randomized control trial of a citizenship training and facilitation program in rural India, with an in-depth, four-year ethnography of the intervention to understand the underlying mechanisms of change. The quantitative data show no impact from the intervention. Household and village survey data from 100 treatment and 100 control villages show considerable improvement across a wide variety of governance and participation indicators over time, but the differences in the changes between treatment and control villages are not statistically significant. The detailed qualitative data from a 10 percent subsample allow us to unpack the reasons why the intervention "failed," highlighting the role of variations in the quality of facilitation, lack of top-down support, and difficulties with confronting the stubborn challenge of persistent inequality. However, the qualitative investigation also uncovered subtle treatment effects that are difficult to observe in structured surveys. The paper thus demonstrates that a concerted effort to use "thick description" to uncover the process of change using careful and detailed qualitative work can add value to standard impact evaluations. 2014-08-15T17:05:17Z 2014-08-15T17:05:17Z 2014-06 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/19749946/anatomy-failure-ethnography-randomized-trial-deepen-democracy-rural-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19368 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6958 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research South Asia India |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ACCOUNTABILITY AUDITS BAD PEOPLE BANKS BENEFICIARIES BRIBE BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS CITIZEN CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT CITIZEN PARTICIPATION CITIZENS CITIZENSHIP CIVIL SOCIETY COLLAPSE COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY LEADERS COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION CONFIDENCE CONSULTATION CONSULTATIONS CONSULTATIVE PROCESS CONTROL GROUPS CORRUPT CORRUPTION CPI CREDIBILITY CRIMINAL DATA COLLECTION DECISION MAKING DEMOCRACIES DEMOCRACY DESCRIPTION DISTRICTS ECONOMIC POLICIES ENGINEER FACILITATORS FEMALE FOCUS GROUP FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS GENDER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GOVERNMENT SERVICES HOMES HOUSEHOLDS HOUSING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IMPACT EVALUATION IMPACT OF INTERVENTIONS INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INEQUALITY INITIATIVE INTEREST GROUPS INTERMEDIARIES INTERVENTION INTERVENTIONS INTERVIEWS INVESTIGATION INVESTIGATOR INVESTIGATORS JUSTICE LEARNING LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION LITERACY RATES LOCAL AUTHORITIES LOCAL CAPACITY LOCAL GOVERNANCE LOCAL POLITICIANS MISAPPROPRIATION MOBILIZATION NEIGHBORHOOD NEPOTISM NGO OLIGARCHY OPENNESS PARTICIPANT OBSERVERS PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY PARTICIPATORY PLANNING PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES PARTICIPATORY PROJECTS PATRONAGE POLICE POLICY INTERVENTION POLITICAL COMPETITION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL PARTICIPATION POLITICAL SYSTEM POOR GOVERNANCE PRIMARY SCHOOL PROGRAM EVALUATION PROGRAMS PROJECT EVALUATION PUBLIC FUNDS PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS QUALITATIVE DATA QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICES QUANTITATIVE DATA QUANTITATIVE SURVEYS RECONSTRUCTION RIGHT TO INFORMATION RURAL COMMUNITIES RURAL DEVELOPMENT SAFETY SAMPLE SIZE SANCTION SELF-HELP SERVICE DELIVERY SHG SOCIAL CONDITIONS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS SOCIAL NETWORKS SOCIAL SCIENCE SOCIAL WORK SPILLOVER EFFECTS STATE GOVERNMENT TARGETING TAX COMPLIANCE TRANSPARENCY TREATMENT EFFECTS TREATMENT GROUPS TRIAL VILLAGE VILLAGE LEVEL VILLAGE MEETINGS VILLAGES VIOLENCE YOUTH |
| spellingShingle |
ACCOUNTABILITY AUDITS BAD PEOPLE BANKS BENEFICIARIES BRIBE BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS CITIZEN CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT CITIZEN PARTICIPATION CITIZENS CITIZENSHIP CIVIL SOCIETY COLLAPSE COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY LEADERS COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION CONFIDENCE CONSULTATION CONSULTATIONS CONSULTATIVE PROCESS CONTROL GROUPS CORRUPT CORRUPTION CPI CREDIBILITY CRIMINAL DATA COLLECTION DECISION MAKING DEMOCRACIES DEMOCRACY DESCRIPTION DISTRICTS ECONOMIC POLICIES ENGINEER FACILITATORS FEMALE FOCUS GROUP FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS GENDER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GOVERNMENT SERVICES HOMES HOUSEHOLDS HOUSING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IMPACT EVALUATION IMPACT OF INTERVENTIONS INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INEQUALITY INITIATIVE INTEREST GROUPS INTERMEDIARIES INTERVENTION INTERVENTIONS INTERVIEWS INVESTIGATION INVESTIGATOR INVESTIGATORS JUSTICE LEARNING LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION LITERACY RATES LOCAL AUTHORITIES LOCAL CAPACITY LOCAL GOVERNANCE LOCAL POLITICIANS MISAPPROPRIATION MOBILIZATION NEIGHBORHOOD NEPOTISM NGO OLIGARCHY OPENNESS PARTICIPANT OBSERVERS PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY PARTICIPATORY PLANNING PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES PARTICIPATORY PROJECTS PATRONAGE POLICE POLICY INTERVENTION POLITICAL COMPETITION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL PARTICIPATION POLITICAL SYSTEM POOR GOVERNANCE PRIMARY SCHOOL PROGRAM EVALUATION PROGRAMS PROJECT EVALUATION PUBLIC FUNDS PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS QUALITATIVE DATA QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICES QUANTITATIVE DATA QUANTITATIVE SURVEYS RECONSTRUCTION RIGHT TO INFORMATION RURAL COMMUNITIES RURAL DEVELOPMENT SAFETY SAMPLE SIZE SANCTION SELF-HELP SERVICE DELIVERY SHG SOCIAL CONDITIONS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS SOCIAL NETWORKS SOCIAL SCIENCE SOCIAL WORK SPILLOVER EFFECTS STATE GOVERNMENT TARGETING TAX COMPLIANCE TRANSPARENCY TREATMENT EFFECTS TREATMENT GROUPS TRIAL VILLAGE VILLAGE LEVEL VILLAGE MEETINGS VILLAGES VIOLENCE YOUTH Ananthpur, Kripa Malik, Kabir Rao, Vijayendra The Anatomy of Failure : An Ethnography of a Randomized Trial to Deepen Democracy in Rural India |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia India |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6958 |
| description |
Programs that induce citizen
participation to improve the quality of government at the
local level are the subjects of large amounts of funding and
intense debate. This paper combines a randomized control
trial of a citizenship training and facilitation program in
rural India, with an in-depth, four-year ethnography of the
intervention to understand the underlying mechanisms of
change. The quantitative data show no impact from the
intervention. Household and village survey data from 100
treatment and 100 control villages show considerable
improvement across a wide variety of governance and
participation indicators over time, but the differences in
the changes between treatment and control villages are not
statistically significant. The detailed qualitative data
from a 10 percent subsample allow us to unpack the reasons
why the intervention "failed," highlighting the
role of variations in the quality of facilitation, lack of
top-down support, and difficulties with confronting the
stubborn challenge of persistent inequality. However, the
qualitative investigation also uncovered subtle treatment
effects that are difficult to observe in structured surveys.
The paper thus demonstrates that a concerted effort to use
"thick description" to uncover the process of
change using careful and detailed qualitative work can add
value to standard impact evaluations. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Ananthpur, Kripa Malik, Kabir Rao, Vijayendra |
| author_facet |
Ananthpur, Kripa Malik, Kabir Rao, Vijayendra |
| author_sort |
Ananthpur, Kripa |
| title |
The Anatomy of Failure : An Ethnography of a Randomized Trial to Deepen Democracy in Rural India |
| title_short |
The Anatomy of Failure : An Ethnography of a Randomized Trial to Deepen Democracy in Rural India |
| title_full |
The Anatomy of Failure : An Ethnography of a Randomized Trial to Deepen Democracy in Rural India |
| title_fullStr |
The Anatomy of Failure : An Ethnography of a Randomized Trial to Deepen Democracy in Rural India |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Anatomy of Failure : An Ethnography of a Randomized Trial to Deepen Democracy in Rural India |
| title_sort |
anatomy of failure : an ethnography of a randomized trial to deepen democracy in rural india |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/19749946/anatomy-failure-ethnography-randomized-trial-deepen-democracy-rural-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19368 |
| _version_ |
1764443734386147328 |