Governance in the Gullies: Democratic Responsiveness and Leadership in Delhi’s Slums*

We use detailed ethnographic evidence to design and interpret a broad representative survey of 800 households in Delhi’s slums, examining the processes by which residents gain access to formal government and develop their own, informal, modes of leadership. While ethnically homogeneous slums transplant rural institutions to the city, newer and ethnically diverse slums depend on informal leaders who gain their authority through political connections, education and network entrepreneurship. Education and political affiliation are more important than seniority in determining a leader’s influence. Informal leaders are accessible to all slum dwellers, but formal government figures are most accessed by the wealthy and the well-connected. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3694, September 2005 The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org. * We are grateful to the World Bank’s Research Department for funding the survey upon which this study is based. Valuable comments were received from two anonymous referees, Susan Athey, Anthony Bebbington, Liran Einav, Deon Filmer, Ravi Kanbur, Jessica Leino, Michael Lokshin, Pedro Miranda, Paul Shaffer and seminar participants at the American Planning and Geographical Associations, Oxford, Stanford and the World Bank. The data was collected cooperatively between the authors and a team including Lester Coutinho and Arup Mitra. Please address correspondence to Vijayendra Rao, Mailstop MC3-306, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433. Telephone: (202) 458 8034. Fax: (202) 522 1153. Email: [email protected] WPS3694 P ub lic D is cl os ur e A ut ho riz ed P ub lic D is cl os ur e A ut ho riz ed P ub lic D is cl os ur e A ut ho riz ed P ub lic D is cl os ur e A ut ho riz ed