"Violence of Democracy examines the rise of majoritarian politics in India through a close examination of a decades-long series of confrontations in the Kannur district of Kerala between members of the Communist Party of India and supporters of two right-wing parties, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in the region, Ruchi Chaturvedi investigates the unique political character of the violent conflict between the 'party left' and the 'Hindu right', which does not correspond neatly to divisions along ethnic, racial, religious, or linguistic lines. The book draws attention to how this partisan conflict is mediated and perpetuated by legitimate institutions of democratic rule, including local trial courts. Although situated in a close examination of the particular nuances of Kerala, Violence of Democracy provides broader insights into the phenomenon of political violence in majoritarian democracies throughout the postcolonial world"--
In Violence of Democracy Ruchi Chaturvedi tracks the rise of India's divisive politics through close examination of decades-long confrontations in Kerala between members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and supporters of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and extensive archival research, Chaturvedi investigates the unique character of the conflict between the party left and Hindu right. This conflict, she shows, defies explanations centering religious, caste, or ideological differences. It offers instead new ways of understanding how "idian political competition can produce antagonistic majoritarian communities. Rival political parties mobilize practices of disbursing care and aggressive masculinity in their struggle for electoral and popular power, a process intensified by a criminal justice system that reproduces violence rather than mitigating it. Chaturvedi traces these dynamics from the late colonial period to the early 2000s, illuminating the broader relationships between democratic life, divisiveness, and majoritarianism
Englisch
Duke University Press
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