Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

3-2017

Abstract

Developing countries are often characterized by a mix of bad governance and development initiatives seeking to accelerate modernization. When inevitable cracks in the modernization process appear, they create opportunities for informalities to seep in where the influence of power relations and culture can lead to new forms of predation or allow governance compromises to emerge. The article explores this at the national and local levels of the Pakistani electrical power sector, with each level conceptualized as a field of strategic action. The aim is to recognize the importance of emergent compromises for producing workable accommodations of competing interests, improving access to services, and addressing questions of social justice. Flexibility in responding to these cracks in the modernization process is not always a failing, but can be desirable and possibly necessary.

Keywords

Governance, formality, electricity, Pakistan

Discipline

Asian Studies | Energy Policy | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Regional Sociology

Research Areas

Sociology

Publication

Current Sociology

Volume

65

Issue

2

First Page

195

Last Page

208

ISSN

0011-3921

Identifier

10.1177/0011392116657290

Publisher

SAGE Publications (UK and US)

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392116657290

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