Paper Tiger: Law, Bureaucracy and the Developmental State in Himalayan India

Cambridge Studies in Law and Society

by Nayanika Mathur

A big cat overthrows the Indian state and establishes a reign of terror over the residents of a Himalayan town. A welfare legislation aimed at providing employment and commanding a huge budget becomes 'unimplementable' in a region bedeviled by high levels of poverty and unemployment. Paper Tiger provides a lively ethnographic account of how such seemingly bizarre scenarios come to be in contemporary India. Based on eighteen months of intensive fieldwork, this book presents a unique explanation for why and how progressive laws can do what they do and not, ever-so-often, what they are supposed to do. It reveals the double-edged effects of the reforms that have been ushered in by the post-liberalization Indian state, particularly the effort to render itself more transparent and accountable. Through a meticulous detailing of everyday bureaucratic life on the Himalayan borderland, Paper Tiger makes an argument for shifting the very frames of thought through which we apprehend the workings of the developmental Indian state.

Genres: Nonfiction, India

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2015

Reviews

[Dafna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book touches upon a few really exciting topics. Development, bureaucracy, and transparency are just a few of them. And Mathur really has a fascinating story to tell. However, sometimes it feels like there is more data in the book than explanation to it/theorizing of it (e.g., the bit about the production of sarkari affect was so promising and so underdelivered), and the writing is sometimes a bit vague for my taste. Chapter 3 about transparency is the high point of the book.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating and well-written. Worth reading for anyone working in "development" or policy in a "developing" (or not) country.

[Sayantan Banerjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant take down of the Indian state and must read ethnographic study!