Crafting democracy and good governance in local arenas: theory, dilemmas, and their resolution through the experiments in Madhya Pradesh, India?

This paper approaches a case of a recent ambitious agenda for the deepening of democracy and good governance, undertaken in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh (MP). The paper delineates a possible theory of the processes that might be driving the directionality and convergence of attempted solutions of dilemmas the world over; and explores its appeal and robustness through applying it to the case of MP. At the same time, it critically engages with theories of institutional change by subjecting the MP study to an institutional analysis; and demonstrates that unless the interplay of institutions with ideas and agency is seriously and systemically considered, institutional analysis on its own may not help to unravel the black box of power and capture, essential also to understand the theory of the inner wave and its agenda.