Leadership and participatory development in post-reform (2001-2010) District Governments of Punjab, Pakistan :
[Thesis]
Rathore, Kashif
the cases of Attock and Sahiwal districts
University of Birmingham
2013
Ph.D.
University of Birmingham
2013
This thesis explored whether, why and how leadership or other factors in Punjab's District Governments were related to participatory development programme introduced in Pakistan's local governments in 2001. Networking/Partnering and transformational styles were found to be significantly correlated with participatory programme utilization levels in sixteen districts. Qualitative analysis in two districts concluded that leadership; local socioeconomic and power patterns; public awareness, trust and confidence; institutional-legal design of participatory development; policy-orientation of higher-level government(s); and local group politics were important factors affecting participatory development programme. Charismatic leadership is highly conductive to change when it builds integrity and trust in a novel public programme, but strong charisma could also lead to discouragement or even suppression of a poorly designed change when leaders intellectualize it in an unfavourable way. Participative leadership led to building follower ownership in participatory policy. Individualized consideration sub-style led to building follower capability for participatory development while intellectual stimulation was the most important leadership sub-style for checking elite-capture. The extent of participatory programme utilization was determined by Networking/Partnering leadership style. 'Deliverance' leadership behaviour was idealized by followers under conditions of poor citizen-rights. An ongoing uninterrupted participatory programme was found to be generally empowering for the communities in the long-term.