From EPW editorial of June 6th, 2009

Fracured Social Sciences:
"...what emerges is that we are today presented with two contrasting depictions of that same social reality which are also contradictory in what they are saying. The first account argues that the failures to meet its development goals are structural to the system and the State. Democracy is contingent to this reality and those in power, it is argued, can easily abrogate it if they feel threatened by its growth.
The second account argues that democracy has become, in some sense, irreversible
in India. It does not deny the failures of the development State, but seems to imply that these failures can be rectified. Crucially, the research which is emerging
from the study of democracy and its practices seems to suggest that it is the poor and marginalised who are convinced about this power of the vote. Underdevelopment, then, can be dissolved and overcome by struggles and negotiations
within democracy.
....
One of the challenges before social sciences in India today is to transcend this
contradiction within its own body and work towards a richer and better understanding of the linkages between democracy and underdevelopment."

May be both the processes are going on at the same time with tension between them varying from place to place until TBTF institutions emerge.