In recent year, globalisation has emerged as a very popular term amongst academics, policy makers, businessmen, and development practitioners and in common parlance. In its extreme range of usage, there is no consensus on its meaning and theorisation. In a broad sense, the term is used to describe the global processes of change taking place in the world over the last two decades.
 
Globalisation has emerged as an extremely powerful force affecting the entire world. With particular emphasis on Third world countries, it is manifest in the introduction of a set of neoliberal reforms at the behest of multilaterals such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund under the tutelage of advanced capitalist countries representing the interests of global finance and corporates, but also with the cooperation of ruling regimes in many instances. India is currently passing through a period of momentous change in different spheres—economic, social, cultural and political. A set of neoliberal reforms introduced in the country has promoted greater integration with the globalising world. These reforms have been introduced in India starting with the BoP crisis of 1991, which marks a clear shift in the model of development adopted in the country, from a state-directed model to a market-centred model. Globalisation amply benefits the privileged all over but adversely affects the marginalized peoples and countries in the world.

In such a scenario, the theme ‘globalisation, governance reforms and development’ gains importance from the angle of both academic understanding and development policy and practice. These are highly contentious issues and have been largely studied separately. This volume attempts to analyse and integrate these themes in an integrated manner with theoretico-conceptual clarity focusing in the Indian context.

Although a large number of studies have examined the economic dimensions of reforms, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical depth in the studies on social, cultural and political dimensions of reforms and development in India. Globalisation, Governance Reforms and Development in India makes an attempt to fill these existing gaps in a limited manner.

This volume is significant in several ways. It is not confined to the analysis of merely a single dimension of globalisation, reforms and development in India as is usually the case, but tries to present an overview of multiple dimensions—social, cultural, political and state-level reforms. In this endeavour the contributors to this book are all specialists from different disciplines such as sociology, political science, economics and media studies. The introductory chapter by the editor delineates the major theoretico-conceptual perspectives on globalisation and makes an attempt to apply these in the analysis of the above-mentioned dimensions of globalisation and reforms in the Indian context.

What this volume tries to state, rather categorically, is that ‘good governance’ reform is not confined to the traditional notion of governance but is basically just another conceptualisation (the other being SAP, i.e., structural adjustment programme) of the neoliberal agenda of reforms meant for firmly reorganising ‘developing’ countries like India along the path of global capitalism. This book attempts to show that reforms have a significant impact in the social, cultural and political domains in the country. Further, it is observed that the introduction of reforms at the state level has not le to ‘competitive developmentalism’ as claimed by neoliberal/neoclassical advocates of the market, but to an exacerbation of the existing inequalities, across states in the country, and at the intrastate level, higher economic growth is not necessarily related to human/social development. Obviously, the study emphasises the need for an alternative development model and policies to promote a democratic (substantive), egalitarian and sustainable development in India rather than clutching to the largely ‘dependent development’ paradigm of globalisation and reforms.

Globalisation, Governance Reforms and Development in India will be of much interest to researchers, teachers and students. The issues discussed in this volume will also draw the attention of civil society organisations and NGOs engaged in advocacy activities. q
 

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