THIS EVENT IS POSTPONED, LIKELY UNTIL THE SPRING SEMESTER...MORE INFORMATION WHEN WE HAVE IT.
Dr. Dyuti Saunik (Univ. of Virginia)
“Making Access Count: Local Representation in Indian Cities”
Gibson Hall 296
12:15-1:30pm
Lunch will be served
Abstract: Elected representatives are often held responsible for outcomes whose delivery depends on appointed bureaucrats they do not directly control. In Indian cities, citizens turn to municipal councilors for help with roads, drainage, water, welfare claims, and other everyday problems, even though councilors lack direct authority over much of the bureaucracy responsible for addressing them. Drawing on 27 months of fieldwork, more than 450 interviews, municipal council proceedings, and a survey of 506 current and former councilors, I examine how representatives pursue constituent demands under this mismatch between electoral responsibility and administrative authority. I show that repeated dependence on the same bureaucratic and political actors makes collaboration more attractive than sustained confrontation, but that collaboration takes different forms. Councilors with greater leverage, the capacity to induce response by making nonresponse costly, are more likely to rely on discretionary, actor-specific channels rather than standardized procedural routes. The findings show how representatives who hold the same office, often in the same city and under the same electoral rules, can nevertheless differ substantially in their strategic capacity to work through the state.
Bio: Dyuti Saunik received his Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia’s Department of Politics in 2026. His research examines representation, local democracy, and bureaucracy, with a focus on India.