Fostering Federalism, Decentralization and People Participation to Cope with Resurgent Authoritarianism and Strengthen and Sustain Democracies, Development and Good Governance

Federalism, decentralization and people participation seem to be emerging major prerequisites to cope up with resurgent authoritarianism across the world. They are considered crucial for strengthening and sustaining emerging democracies in post conflict situations, and for promoting equitable development and good governance. The peoples participation is important for defending the liberties of people, ensure justice and equality, and improve our quality of life through power sharing and peoples’ participation in governance. The sub national governments evolve policies and practices of public participation in decision making and problem solving. The concepts of federalism, decentralization are important in both stable as well as conflict-ridden authoritarian societies and can play a role in post-conflict situations. The session is an effort to discuss theories and practices of the same and invite papers which:

1. explores the use of decentralization and peoples participation in various arenas, including education, health, land use and local governance including practical frameworks for thinking about how to engage citizens effectively and clear explanations of participation scenarios, tactics and designs and application of decentralization and people participation in different settings for promoting good governance.

2. provide innovative approaches for reshaping federal practices, decentralization and peoples participation in planning, governance, management and conflict resolution and suggesting improvement in ways the participation, decentralisation and democracy function in different countries