Book Review: Kuldeep Mathur, Public Policy and Politics in India: How Institutions Matter
| Author | Jyoti Mishra |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2321023015575241 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews
any strategy of engaging with the volunteers in a manner that would deepen their involvement in and
knowledge of politics, it was unable to build on the enthusiasm and eventually only deepened the mood
of cynicism about politics. To state sharply, Hazare and company were successful in further delegitimiz-
ing an already tottering UPA-II regime. But whether they also contributed to the eventual success of
Narendra Modi is less certain.
Harsh Sethi
Consulting Editor, Seminar, Delhi
E-mail: harshsethi.sethi@gmail.com
Kuldeep Mathur, Public Policy and Politics in India: How Institutions Matter. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press. 2013. 295 pages. `795.
DOI: 10.1177/2321023015575241
This book is a collection of essays that analyze India’s public policies and various aspects related to
them. Through these essays the author tries to highlight the emerging phenomena in the policy-making
process in India and emphasize that it is not only the state institutions but also many other actors and
institutions (for instance, in the corporate sector and in civil society) who play important roles in the
policy-making process. These institutions interact in both informal and formal, more structured, ways.
They provide guidelines to the administrators or policy-makers and facilitate the process of policy-
making. However, the institutions are not always facilitators; they also constrain the process through
which debates and interactions take place. Various institutions contest for their interests and bargain with
state institutions for the policies that facilitate their interests.
The book also highlights the shift from a more complex technocratic and rational approach of policy-
making to a pluralistic approach that includes social perspectives in the policy-making process. This new
approach is more inclusive in nature. The state has involved many actors such as research institutes and
NGOs for guidance in the policy-making process...
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