Development, Devolution and Democracy

As the longest surviving, democratically elected Communist regime, the performance of the Left Front Government in West Bengal has attracted attention. In this study based on primary research conducted in different districts of the state, G K Lieten assesses both the claims and the performance of the regime critically but sympathetically. He provides an analytical reading of other studies concerning the Left Front Government's policies. Lieten locates the discussion of the West Bengal experience within the larger rubric of the possibility of genuine decentralization and participation in a post-colonial situation through the use of democratic means.