Poor people confront the state on an everyday basis all over the world. But how do they see the state, and how are these engagements conducted? This book considers the Indian case where people's accounts, in particular in the countryside, are shaped by a series of encounters that are staged at the local level, and which are also informed by ideas that are circulated by the government and the broader development community. Drawing extensively on fieldwork conducted in eastern India and their broad range of expertise, the authors review a series of key debates in development studies on participation, good governance, and the structuring of political society. They do so with particular reference to the Employment Assurance Scheme and primary education provision. Seeing the State engages with the work of James Scott, James Ferguson and Partha Chatterjee, and offers a new interpretation of the formation of citizenship in South Asia.

The book engages major debates on poverty, politics and governance

Focuses on South Asia, but looks broadly and analytically across a range of disciplines, including development studies, sociology, anthropology and history

Engagingly written by four of the leading figures in their fields for students, scholars and professionals

Stuart Corbridge is Professor of Geography at the London School of E conomics and at the University of Miami. His recent publications include Reinventing India (with John Harriss, 2000).

Glyn Williams is Lecturer in Geography at Keele University. He is the co-editor of a collection of essays on South Asia in a Globalising World (2002).

Manoj Srivastava is a Research Associate in the Crisis State Programme, Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics.

Rene Veron is Assistant Professor in Geography at the University of Guelph, Ontario. He is the author of Real Markets and Environmental Change in Kerala (1999).