Gentrifying the State

Abstract

This chapter represents an effort to link ongoing debates on liberalization of urban development in India with the growing literature on the neoliberalization of urban governance. It examines the role of the middle class in “shaping visions of globalized urban development.” The chapter focuses on how new urban agendas have spawned governance innovations that cut through the power of “political society.” It begins by describing the contrasting bureaucratic and political channels through which the elite and “subaltern” classes have accessed the state historically in India. The chapter focuses on the extensive spaces of political negotiability in the lower reaches of the Indian bureaucracy, which have allowed slum residents to enjoy relatively secure tenure despite their extra-legal status. It shows how the Delhi government's Bhagidari scheme has reconfigured state space to facilitate the rise of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) as a new player in neighborhood and citywide urban governance.

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