Reimagine the State-citizen social contract
In India’s democracy, as in any other, the social contract between political leaders and the governed determines how long they govern and the focus of their governance
India’s 75th Independence anniversary was a milestone. Much has been written about what has been achieved to date and what has not. I will not go down that road; instead, I will explore why we are where we are.
The unfolding of that question begins with examining the social contract between political regimes and citizens of India, and how that has evolved over the years. It is tempting to list the gaps and point to leaders for their failings. The failings on that score are many, across parties and the years, but what about the other side of the story, the citizens?
In India’s democracy, as in any other, the social contract between political leaders and the governed determines how long they govern and the focus of their governance. So, what is the core of such a social contract, and to what extent does it align with the gaps that we identify in the country today?
Let’s take some pivotal sectors such as health, education, social security, clean air, and water. The status of these sectors is far from where it needs to be. Yet, as several citizen surveys will suggest, elections don’t seem to be fought on these issues, leaders rarely come into or go out of office because of these, and demands on these are neither loud nor visible. Can this suggest that citizens don’t expect these issues to be the core of their contract with their leaders?
Political behaviour is driven either by the ideology of parties and their members, or by perceived political incentives — one or both driving the choice of issues that get attention. Actions that increase a party’s legitimacy among the electorate, thereby strengthening the social contract between the two to potentially deliver electoral dividends, will drive political incentives. So, it’s time to ask, what issues is the electorate allowing as the basis for political incentives and legitimacy?
Numerous examples from India and worldwide have underlined the role incentives play in driving political attention to specific policy issues. For instance, countries as diverse as Turkey, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and China prioritised health care to strengthen political legitimacy when they saw citizens’ demands for better health care. In India, states such as Tamil Nadu have strengthened their social contract with the electorate through attention to social policy.
The next question examines how such incentives are created, surfaced, or strengthened. Experience reveals that such incentives are often driven by external players such as citizens and other advocates, who contribute to developing and strengthening incentives for political attention.
For example, Brazil and Thailand saw social movements and networks of doctors and public health professionals (the Sanitarista movement and Rural Doctor’s Society) play an important role in ensuring political attention to health care. Citizen mobilisation and a strong push by bureaucrats combined to create a context where health was viewed as a potential means of establishing a social contract between political leaders and the electorate.
Social movements and other advocacy actors can play a role in challenging the notion that existing policies may be aligned with citizen choices and needs. These actors, both external and internal to the system, can be vital in influencing the incentives for political regimes, and it is for citizens and movements, therefore, to create the issue platforms that could contribute to creating political legitimacy around specific issues.
India is no stranger to such processes. The country has witnessed citizen movements in social and other policies, with explicit demands, leading to shifts in how some of these issues were viewed and to concrete action (employment, education, food, and agriculture being some). Whether in the past or more recent years, the challenge to surfacing issues and building narratives that can form the base of a social contract lies in exercising and asserting the true principles of democracy.
In its democratic history, India has witnessed long stints of a dominant party being in power, and challenging the narrative that created the dominance in the first place may not be a trivial task. After 75 years, the question is whether the social contract with our political leaders is based on the issues we see as gaps and what are the mechanisms and platforms to reimagine and reconstruct such a contract between ruling regimes and citizens.
Sandhya Venkateswaran is senior fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress, Commissioner, Lancet Citizens Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System
The views expressed are personal