Politicians have long served as intermediaries for citizens navigating the state. Can elected members of village councils facilitate citizens' access to the formal justice system? Justice seekers face formidable social and administrative costs that cause most grievances to remain outside the state's purview. Council members lower these barriers through a distinct form of assistance: by acting as intermediaries. I test this theory in 28,000 village councils in Maharashtra, India, leveraging population-based discontinuities in council size, paired with an original dataset of 3.37 million court cases. I find that additional council members lead to a 51% increase in court filings and use qualitative data to document these direct interactions. Surveys of citizens and council elections data show that this phenomenon is explained by greater capacity and descriptive representation in larger councils. These findings reveal how political institutions act as a catalyst for legal mobilization.
Saloni Bhogale specializes in comparative politics and political methodology. Her research examines the mechanisms by which deepening democracy can sustain the rule of law and drive human development. Bhogale’s Kellogg research project, titled “Local Institutions and the Rule of Law,” investigates how local democratic institutions in the Global South maintain the rule of law through increased accountability and improved citizen trust. Her current book project of the same name highlights the critical role of local politicians in overcoming the limitations of customary legal authorities to promote development. Bhogale holds a PhD in political science and an MS in statistics, both from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
This seminar is sponsored by the Liu Institute's South Asia Group.