Since role of the state cannot be reduced beyond a point, those with an initial endowment of political or economic power can potentially capture the instrument of control and deploy it for further accumulation and centralisation of power, Mundle said during his lecture on 'Development and Ethics'.
This will have its attendant consequences ranging from inefficiency and poor public services to rent seeking and corruption, Mundle, who is also chief economist at India Resident Mission of ADB, said.
"Is there a way forward in containing this concentration of state power? Strategically, we may have to part ways here with the Gandhian aversion of competition and seek to promote both competition within the state as well as mobilise the countervailing powers of civil society, the market and social capital of thousands of voluntary organisations, to contain the accumulation of state power, he said.
"In other words, we need a proper balance between the state, the market and the voluntary organisations of civil society as the three fundamental pillars of a robust democracy," he explained.
He added that there is perhaps nothing more important for preservation and nurturing of such a "robust" democracy than a free and vibrant media and universal basic education.
Clarifying that his views on the subject is personal and not necessarily shared by ADB, Mundle said there was a dichotomy between the theory and practice of development.
