I, the citizen : unraveling the power of citizen engagement

I, the Citizen is an attempt to understand citizen development and engagement. R. Balasubramaniam takes the reader through interpretations of development initiatives at the grassroots and what good governance means to ordinary people. He unravels the power of citizen engagement through his experiences of leading civil society campaigns against corruption and towards strengthening democratic participation of people. I, the Citizen also deals with the philosophical underpinnings of public policies, drawing from his on-the-ground experience as well as engagement with those in the higher echelons of policymaking and implementation. The last section of the book provides glimpses into milestones of a development movement, which Balu founded and led, milestones that are responsible for a continued faith in citizen engagement despite the hindering forces. 'I, the Citizen' is an attempt to understand citizen development and engagement. It takes the reader through interpretations of development initiatives at the grassroots and what good governance means to ordinary people. The work unravels the power of citizen engagement through the author's experiences of leading civil society campaigns against corruption and towards strengthening democratic participation of people. It also deals with the philosophical underpinnings of public policies, drawing from the author's on-the-ground experience as well as engagement with those in the higher echelons of policymaking and implementation. The last section of the text provides glimpses into milestones of a development movement; milestones that are responsible for a continued faith in citizen engagement despite the hindering forces CONTENTS Acknowledgments Foreword Preface Understanding development Voices from the grassroots level Governance, democracy and citizenship Information indeed is power – people and their right to information Citizen engagement and the fight against corruption Citizen engagement towards making democracy work Perspectives on policy An unending movement Epilogue: Citizen Engagement – Exemplars and Realities Glossary