Can Bihar Break the Clientelist Trap? The Political Effects of Programmatic Development Policy

It is widely recognized that politics affects policy-making, but there is little knowledge about how politics can be made more conducive to effective governance. This study reverses the relationship to ask whether temporary experiences of effective ‘programmatic’ governance can change the political attitudes and behaviour of citizens, providing the foundations for its own continuation. To compare political attitudes, a household survey of Biharis was conducted within 4km of the state border and responses were compared to neighbours on the Jharkhand side who were not exposed to Bihar’s decade of reforms but were until 2000 members of the same state. [IGC Working paper].