Suchergebnisse

One of the most pernicious consequences of colonialism was what K. C. Bhattacharya described as the 'enslavement of minds'. It produced a feeling of inferiority, an erasure of memory and cultures, an alien conceptual vocabulary and a hegemonic perspective from which to view the world. This article describes these consequences in some detail to demonstrate the huge conceptual challenges that a decolonisation of the mind has to confront as it attempts to move the society, and public discourse, towards a truly emancipatory future. In addition to these conceptual challenges the article also describes the worrisome new recolonisation of the Indian mind that is taking place by the knowledge producing agencies that are outside the university and that are driven by the interests of global capital in its unrelenting desire for domination. These knowledge agencies produce a discourse that is embedded in interest and, in a grave departure, is delinked from the pursuit of truth.

What is this all about : introductory positioning -- The periphery, the marginal and the rural : conceptual discussion -- Theory : limits and potentials -- Measure what, with what and what does it represent? -- The urban deconstructed -- Geographic and demographic structures -- Extended definitions : an alternative way to re-analyse -- Peripheral economics : some alternative approaches -- Economic structures and structural changes -- General frameworks for policy development -- References

This volume is the sixth in the series of essential readings on Indian government and politics and its focus is on political parties in India. It introduces the reader to the extensive and varied landscape of political parties in India by bringing together classic articles on national and regional organizations and the politics they represent. The book covers an exceptionally wide terrain ranging from individual parties, to the development of nationalism and communalism, and to more current issues like state funding of elections and women's representation

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction: A Political Theory of Indian Democracy -- Concepts and Context -- Theory and Significance -- What Is Democracy Doing to India -- Significance of 2014 -- Part I: State, Nation, Democracy -- Chapter 2: Historicizing India´s Nationhood: History as Contemporary Politics -- Politics and History: Interdependence -- Colonial and Nationalist Historiography and Ethno-religious Nationalism -- Chapter 3: State-Nation Building: The Making of Liberal Democracy -- Chapter 4: Crisis of Political Authority -- Defining Political Crisis -- Nature of the Crisis -- Legitimacy of the Congress System -- Structural Basis of the Crisis -- Dimensions of the Crisis -- Part II: Parapolitics of Democracy -- Chapter 5: Civil Society and Non-party Political Formations -- The Emergence of the Idea of Civil Society in India -- Non-party Political Formations -- Expectations and Organizational Forms -- Parties and Non-party Political Formations -- Academics and Non-party Political Formations -- The Issue of Funding -- Chapter 6: Transformative Politics of Grass-Roots Movements -- Politics of Development -- The Alternative Idea of Development -- The Decline of Institutional Politics -- Emergence of Grass-roots Movements -- Micro-movements and Local Politics -- Micro-movements and Mainstream Politics -- Micro-movements and the Politics of Transformation -- The Need for Macro-level Initiatives -- Chapter 7: Law and the Outcasts of Development -- Displacement: The Context for the Use of Law -- Experience of Using Law -- The Problems in Singrauli -- The Emerging Approach -- Part III: Social Power and Democracy -- Chapter 8: Secularization of Caste and the Making of a New Middle Class -- The Colonial Discourse -- Secularization of Caste -- De-ritualization -- Politicization of Castes

"This book presents a comprehensive overview of the contemporary experiences of democracy in India. It explores the modes by which democracy as an idea, and as a practice, is interpreted, enforced, and lived in India's current political climate. The book employs 'case studies' as a methodological vantage point to evolve an innovative conceptual framework for the study of democracy in India. The chapters unpack a diverse range of themes such as democracy and Dalits; agriculture, new sociality and communal violence in rural areas; changing nature of political communication in India; role of anti-nuclear movements in democracies; issues of subaltern citizen's voice, impaired governance and the development paradigm; free speech and segregation in the public sphere; and, the surveillance state and Indian democracy. These thematic explorations are arranged in an engaging sequence to offer a multifaceted narrative of Indian democracy especially in relation to the recent debates on citizenship and constitutionalism. A key critical intervention on contemporary politics in South Asia, this book will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of political studies, political science, political sociology, comparative government and politics, sociology, social anthropology, public administration, public policy, and South Asia studies. It will also be of immense interest to policymakers, journalists, think-tanks, bureaucrats, and organizations working in the area"--