Empowering people: Role for political social work in South Asia

Abstract

South Asian governments have initiated political reforms engaging in rhetoric that resonates with the paradigms of good governance and empowerment of people. This article, applying a political social work framework, analyses reform policy in Pakistan and India in South Asia. By doing so, the article investigates the politics of local governance reforms in Pakistan and India within the context of domestic politics, institutional power and dynamics, and bureaucratic traditions and civil society activism. The article argues for renewed South Asian political social work that catalyzes robust local governance through citizen participation, resulting in the empowerment of people.