Money, Violence, and Connections

Abstract

Abstract At the heart of the relationship between citizen and state over access to electrical power lies a personal encounter between consumer and street-level bureaucrat. The parameters of this encounter are shaped by power in the form of money and personal connections, with an underlying threat of violence that usually remains hidden. This is the lowest of the three nested fields that form the scaffolding of this book and in many senses forms the basis for the phenomena discussed at higher levels. Codified rules exist, and certainly matter, but access to them is wrapped in layers of social negotiations and contestations. In this chapter the arc of the book descends to the most basic and direct form of contest over the terms of engagement with the state, which is mostly conducted face to face.