SOCIAL MOBILISATION AND INSTITUTION BUILDING

The Third Pillar by Raghuram Rajan

The Third Pillar by Raghuram Rajan mainly focuses on the three pillars, which are the
building block of every society. The three pillars are state, markets, and communities. The
three pillars are interrelated to each other in possible ways. The state gives a validity that
public activity is possible everywhere. The market provides scope for creating interactions
between different stakeholders.

At last, community creates a feeling of connection and solidarity. As Bradshaw defined the
community as solidarity. The interaction between these pillars has to be done in a very well-
coordinated manner. If one pillar is disturbed, then the entire structure will look unsteady.In
reference to chapter 1, Medieval society had a very powerful community, but the society
lacked in state and market. The inference that can be drawn is to have a society that is
performing at its equilibrium. The three pillars should be well-coordinated and have a stable
interaction. The main focus is on building the market because the market is a place where a
series of norms, values, and social events are heightened and focused upon. It can be seen
that as the market grows, the state also gets empowered both in terms of economic and
political matters, which in turn empowers the local communities. In this case, a stable
equilibrium between the three pillars is established.

During the ancient and medieval periods, the focus was on only one pillar, neglecting the
other pillars. During this time, the people were serving their rulers, and they were only
faithful to them. The items produced were only traded within the state, and they were not
exported, giving any scope for the market to penetrate and have a strong network route. By
the end of the 16th century, the rulers gathered the communities and imposed charges on the
wealthy communities to take for expenses that were incurred during the war. This clearly
shows the communities are getting powerful, and they are working collectively to achieve a
goal. Community majorly focuses on the collectiveness of the people to work together by
sharing common values, beliefs, and ownership. The community work at its best when it is
small and has very little competition. In a small community, everyone looks after others for
bringing prosperity to each other's lives. For example, the functioning of the tribal
community is too simplistic in terms of the way they work.
Until the end of the 16th century, the state prevailed, but during this period, the concept of the
market rose. The rulers felt that the market had an enormous opportunity because it would
give opportunities to the nobles to become as wealthy as possible. For the European countries
market pillar was the key to their lives. The market was the reason which allowed the
producers to prosper in their countries. In the market, larger groups are unable to participate
in the activities rather. It gives room for the smaller groups to participate in the market. The
community has been given less priority with time. With time they want to take away the
autonomy of the community. The community will be functioning as an individual entity
despite the collaborative and participatory action, which is the sole purpose of the
community. The lack of trust on the communities has been instilled by the modern states,
which have led to the inefficiency within the communities, and the communities started to
depend on the states to deliver the services. The reason for this is to change the liberal
societies to the modern world where the community will have a very lesser role to play in the
execution process, and the community will not be the backbone of any change that is going to
take place. Complete control will be in the hand of the modern world.

According to Rajan, the community still matters, and they have a huge implication in today's
world. The real-life still takes place in a community. Isolated people are weak and insecure. If
the community is still not involved, then creating a balance between equity and equality will
be difficult, and this will lead to zero participatory action. The community can help to have a
healthy interaction between the economy and the people. The market can be seen as a subset
of the communities because it involves negotiation between various stakeholders involved
within the communities.

The importance of technology is massive as it has shaped the way we are now. The issues
like climate change and poverty have been addressed by technology, but they can also create
an imbalance in wealth. As the community is the backbone of each and everything, therefore,
there is a need to restore the community as it can play an active and balancing role in the
economy. The community should be provided with autonomy to fulfill its essentials. The
community is being formed to maintain balance in the world with their decision-making and
participatory skills. The community's primary purpose is to serve the economy as they serve
as a supplementary role. The community must shape themselves within the community;
otherwise, if an outside member in shaping the community, then they will have complete
autonomy on them, which can create a problem as they cannot contribute to the economy to
their fullest capabilities. Fixing the community and the state and market is the book's main
aim because if these three pillars are fixed, and equilibrium is established between these
three, then the country's economy will be at its best. The local communities have to be
empowered so that a proper relationship between state and market is established.

Applications of the same in the post-COVID world

In the post COVID world, the market, state, and community started to work collaboratively,
and it was seen that there was a participatory approach to work done. The COVID phase gave
us a sign to rebalance the economy more efficiently and effectively. The communities have
started to work collectively so that the COVID scenario can be brought under control. The
communities will be one of the driving factors to bringing the change with the support from
the state, and the market played as a facilitator to bring about the change by acting as a
shareholder. The communities have been engaged in preparedness and response in COVID,
which helped the health workers to avoid the situation from getting worse. COVID was a
time that showed the true reflection of the communities along with the difference between the
communities on certain aspects, which acted as a barrier to performing a participatory
approach. Let us take an example of the banking sector, which is generally a marketplace as it
involves the exchange of buyers and sellers. Revamp of the banking sector and the economy
will be very difficult as the state and the communities have to get along together, and
everyone has to work together so that the economy is revived. In this case, capacity building
and community engagement strategies can help to build the local economies.

It is important to identify and understand the communities in order to facilitate the

community engagement and facilitating the work which will revolve around the communities.
The communities will be forming the backbone of every work that is being carried out. The
financial market and the global economy have been badly hit by the COVID. The volatility of
the market has been a cause of severe loss when it comes to the financial market. The loss of
jobs has been a reason for the economy to suffer a huge setback, and the growth will take a
longer time than it is anticipated. For the financial market to perform at its fullest capabilities,
the three pillars have to get in the balance and perform at their best. Everyone present in the
communities has to contribute to bringing about the change. When participatory action takes
place then will be a situation known as the tipping point will arise where the majority will
contribute to revamping the economy. COVID made the community to work together and
brought equilibrium to the country. If anyone's pillar gets imbalanced, then the pillar gets
dismantled, and there is a disturbance in the economy.