Conclusion: Democracy, Civil Society, and Claims-Making for Public Services

Abstract

The chapter sums up the main arguments and findings of the book. It also includes a brief discussion on whether — and the extent to which — public services are becoming more relevant to voting behavior and if that could, other than inspire greater political responsiveness from above, also translate into growing citizen demands for social services. At the same time, however, the chapter submits that bottom-up pressures may at best play only a secondary role in improving the state of public services in India.