Replication for: Deliberative Democracy in an Unequal World: A Text-As-Data Study of South India’s Village Assemblies

Gram Sabha Transcript Data: The data consists of recorded, transcribed, and translated proceedings from gram sabha assemblies (village meetings) conducted on Republic Day 2014. The sample includes 50 village assemblies across 9 districts in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. These villages were part of a broader impact evaluation of the Pudhu Vaazhvu Project. From these 50 villages, we collected two forms of data with the assistance of local women, who were trained as field enumerators: (1) full audio recordings of the gram sabha, and (2) a standardized questionnaire on the attendance of citizens and local officials, the nature of issues raised, and demographic data on who raised these issues. This survey data also included a roster of state and local government officials in attendance, the physical location of the assembly, and attendance at regular intervals. Abstract: This paper opens the "black box" of deliberation by using text-as-data methods on a corpus of transcripts from the constitutionally mandated gram sabhas, or village assemblies, of rural India. Drawing on normative theories of deliberation, we identify empirical standards for "good" deliberation based on one's ability both to speak and to be heard, and use natural language processing methods to generate these measures. We first show that these assemblies are not mere "talking shops," but rather, provide opportunities for citizens to challenge their elected officials, demand transparency, and provide information about local development needs. Second, we find that women are at a disadvantage relative to men; they are less likely to speak, set the agenda, and receive a relevant response from state officials. And finally, we show that quotas for women for village presidencies improve the likelihood that female citizens are heard.