Interrogating Settled Terrains of State Capacity: Explaining Governance Reforms in a Low-Capacity Milieu

Abstract

Under what conditions do policy paradigms succeed in historically weak states? To answer these questions, this paper examines the subnational case of Bihar in India. The existing literature portrays Bihar as lacking capacity. Yet, between 2005 and 2010, astounding improvements have taken place in sectors of transparency and accountability and law & order. How do we explain this? This paper shows that ideas are consequential in initiating changes in policy paradigms.