Governance and Electoral Processes in India's North-East

The concept of governance though of recent origin encompasses much more than mere rule or administration - it represents a commitment to democratic institutions, processes and values in order to ensure economic, political and social security. It involves the civil society and the people as partners with the government working in collective interest. This paper attempts a look at the quality of governance in a `peripheral' region of India - the northeast - by seeking an objective understanding of how democracy and its institutions function in this region. The linkages between governance and the functioning of democracy are studied here in the limited, albeit vital context of electoral processes in the last two decades.