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Moving the State: The Politics of Democratic Decentralization in Kerala, South Africa, and Porto Alegre

Patrick Heller · Politics & Society 29(1), 131-163 · 2001

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Type: Article
Author: Patrick Heller
Identifier: DOI 10.1177/0032329201029001006
Accessed: 2026-09-01

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EstablishedIn a 'big bang' approach, Kerala's People's Campaign devolved 35 to 40 per cent of state plan expenditure to panchayats and municipalities as untied funds, with priorities set in ward assemblies (grama sabhas) and projects designed by task forces of elected officials, local officials and activists.TheoryHeller argues that decentralisation was sustained in Kerala and Porto Alegre but unravelled in South Africa because of party–society dynamics: subnational left parties in competitive settings broke with vanguardism and allied with autonomous social movements, while the hegemonic ANC absorbed or marginalised movements and took a bureaucratic, commandist approach.