705
People’s Participation, Decentralised Governance, and Social Democracy: Forging Viable Social Security Instruments
Abstract Submissions Closed
WG05 Famine and Society (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
Democratic Governance is considered by many as the best form of governance. Democracy refers to a continuum ranging from representative democracy, where people elect their representatives for performing entrusted functions to participative governance, where the people directly get involved in the governance process.
There is a swing towards inclusive governance the world over, with emphasis on people’s participation, decentralised governance, and social democracy. As Amartya Sen has pointed-out, “The success of democracy depends not only on the institutional forms that are adopted, but also on the vigour of practice. The political challenge for people around the world today is not just to replace authoritarian regimes with democratic ones. Beyond this, it is to make democracy work for ordinary people.” With this backdrop, there are two interesting models in the world: Participatory Budgeting in Brazil (1988); & Participatory Planning in Kerala State of India (1996). Both these decentralised models enhance the participation of the people in planning, implementation and monitoring through their own unique perspectives.
The Nordic countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark have socialist welfare policies, combined with a capitalist framework. A number of East European countries have tried to emulate this path.
The Session will focus on:
- Different models of Social Democracy;
- The effectiveness of different types of social security instruments;
- How to institutionalize participatory governance in different countries following different political systems;
- What changes are required in capitalist systems for strengthening participatory governance; &
- How to combine progressive increases in GDP with better distribution of incomes.