Peter DeSouza - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Peter DeSouza

Compiling this collection of articles has been a challenging and rewarding exercise, both persona... more Compiling this collection of articles has been a challenging and rewarding exercise, both personally and professionally. What began as a simple practical task of selecting from DLS’s extensive and diverse writings a representative set of papers that could be made available to students and researchers of Indian politics, an apparently straightforward objective, soon developed into a tutorial on his ideas and his political philosophy. As editor, I quickly realized that I had to engage with his arguments and interpretations of events and to reflect on his readings of personalities, processes, institutions and histories. The intellectual universe he inhabited emerged as more complex and layered than I had anticipated and, as a result, I had to make a mid-course correction. The pragmatic exercise of ‘just compiling’ was, it now seemed, not possible. I found myself beginning a conversation with the writings, one that spanned many issues starting with his epistemic location within the soci...

L'etude des rapports entre l'Asie et les mondes lusophones et celui des creolites luso-as... more L'etude des rapports entre l'Asie et les mondes lusophones et celui des creolites luso-asiatiques reste a defricher. Selon une idee repandue, les communautes luso-asiatiques seraient en voie de disparition : meme si l'actuelle situation a Timor Loro Sae semble montrer le confraire, le domaine de recherche a subi les consequences des idees preconcues. Il a fait l'objet de peu de rencontres scientifiques : tel fut justement l'objet des « Troisiemes Journees d'etudes internationales de Lusotopie », reunies a Goa en fevrier 1999. Mais l'etude du theme « Lusophonies Asiatiques, Asiatiques en lusophonie » impose d'aller au-dela des mythes. La question du statut social de la langue est fondamental pour comprendre le rapport a l'identite. Les contextes historiques, economiques et politiques, expliquent aussi pourquoi le portugais peut disparaitre a Goa et a Macao, mais se maintenir a alacca ou Timor. Enfin, la presence de communautes luso-asiatiques nombr...

PART ONE: CIVILIZATION IN TRANSITION Interpretations of Indian History - Romila Thapar Colonial, ... more PART ONE: CIVILIZATION IN TRANSITION Interpretations of Indian History - Romila Thapar Colonial, Nationalist, Post-colonial Towards the Concept of a New Nationhood - U R Ananthamurthy Languages and Literatures in India Political and Critical Discriminations of Intra - and Multi-culturalisms in India Today - Rustom Bharucha Dalits - Gopal Guru Reflections on the Search for Inclusion PART TWO: ECONOMY IN TRANSITION Economic Progress in the Context of Industrialisation and Globalisation - S S Bhandare Agricultural and Agri-business Issues under Economic Liberalisation - Bhupat M Desai Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India - Ghanshyam Shah PART THREE: POLITY IN TRANSITION The Constitutional Order in India - Soli J Sorabjee A Framework for Transition Do Muslims Have A Right to their Personal Laws? - Rajeev Bhargava Elections, Parties and Democracy in India - Peter Ronald deSouza The Human Rights Agenda in India - Nawaz B. Mody PART FOUR: SOCIETY IN TRANSITION Caste and the Secularisati...

If one were challenged into choosing just one word to explain contemporary India what would that ... more If one were challenged into choosing just one word to explain contemporary India what would that word be? This may seem like a puerile challenge, trivialising the difficult task of representing India that is too complex, too ancient, and too diverse to be explained by just one word. And yet in the history of the social sciences philosophers have attempted just such an exercise of using a core word to explain the essential nature of a society. "Dharma" was given such a status in the classical Indian texts. "Value" was the word Marx chose to explain capitalism. "Trust" is a word sociologists consider central to a society’s continued existence. "Ubuntu" stakes a strong claim for that position in South Africa’s lexicon. Posing the challenge, therefore, is not as outlandish as it initially seems.

Preface Introduction - E Sridharan and Peter Ronald deSouza The Evolution of Political Parties in... more Preface Introduction - E Sridharan and Peter Ronald deSouza The Evolution of Political Parties in India A Plea for the Reconstruction of the Indian Polity - Jayaprakash Narayan Politics without Party - M N Roy The Congress 'System' in India - Rajni Kothari Party System and Electoral Politics in the Indian States, 1952-2002 - Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav From Hegemony to Convergence Party Politics and Electoral Behaviour - Myron Weiner From Independence to the 1980s The Challenge of Hindu Nationalism - Bruce D Graham The Bharatiya Janata Party in Contemporary Indian Politics Communalization of the Indian Polity - Achin Vanaik The Communist Parties in India - Valerian Rodrigues Shiv Sena - Suhas Palshikar A Tiger with Many Faces? Telugu Desam Party - K C Suri Rise and Prospects for Future Parties, the Party System and Collective Action for State Funding of Elections - E Sridharan A Comparative Perspective on Possible Options 'No' to Zenana Dabbas: - Madhu Kishwar...

Examining the micro politics of a single constituency, this study tries to explore the relationsh... more Examining the micro politics of a single constituency, this study tries to explore the relationship between the empirical and the theoretical in a working democracy. By detailing the dynamics of electoral and party politics in the context of a constituency which suffers from a" development deficit", the study examines the place of political leaders, party strategy, political ideology, political rhetoric, youth participation, voter loyalty, identity mobilisation, etc, in the democratic process. To engage with these issues of democracy-in-practice the ...

The public intellectual in India is an endangered species. Should we care? In this well-argued bo... more The public intellectual in India is an endangered species. Should we care? In this well-argued book, Romila Thapar and others tell us why we should. Thapar begins by defining the critical role that such individuals play in our societies today. Collectively, they are the objective, fearless, constructive voice that asks the awkward questions when government, industry, religious leaders and other bulwarks of society stray from their roles of ensuring the proper functioning of a country whose hallmarks are (or should be) social and economic equality, justice for all, and the liberty to say, think and profess the fundamental requirements of good citizenship. Through the lens of history, philosophy, science, and politics, she shows us the key role enlightened thinkers and activists have played in India, Europe and elsewhere. Today, as the liberal space in India is threatened by religious fundamentalism, big business, and, worryingly, a government that appears to be tacitly (and sometimes...

Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais

The Recolonization of the Indian Mind One of the most pernicious consequences of colonialism was ... more The Recolonization of the Indian Mind 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.

Economic and Political Weekly, Mar 2, 2002

Indian Youth in a Transforming World: Attitudes and Perceptions, 2009

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2003

... Zoya Hasan, Eswaran Sridharan, and R. Sudarshan (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2002), pp. ... p... more ... Zoya Hasan, Eswaran Sridharan, and R. Sudarshan (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2002), pp. ... period, thinking about decentralization benefited from the deliberations of several committees, including the three chaired by Balwantrai Mehta, Asoka Mehta, and LM Singhvi.14 In the ...

Compiling this collection of articles has been a challenging and rewarding exercise, both persona... more Compiling this collection of articles has been a challenging and rewarding exercise, both personally and professionally. What began as a simple practical task of selecting from DLS’s extensive and diverse writings a representative set of papers that could be made available to students and researchers of Indian politics, an apparently straightforward objective, soon developed into a tutorial on his ideas and his political philosophy. As editor, I quickly realized that I had to engage with his arguments and interpretations of events and to reflect on his readings of personalities, processes, institutions and histories. The intellectual universe he inhabited emerged as more complex and layered than I had anticipated and, as a result, I had to make a mid-course correction. The pragmatic exercise of ‘just compiling’ was, it now seemed, not possible. I found myself beginning a conversation with the writings, one that spanned many issues starting with his epistemic location within the soci...

L'etude des rapports entre l'Asie et les mondes lusophones et celui des creolites luso-as... more L'etude des rapports entre l'Asie et les mondes lusophones et celui des creolites luso-asiatiques reste a defricher. Selon une idee repandue, les communautes luso-asiatiques seraient en voie de disparition : meme si l'actuelle situation a Timor Loro Sae semble montrer le confraire, le domaine de recherche a subi les consequences des idees preconcues. Il a fait l'objet de peu de rencontres scientifiques : tel fut justement l'objet des « Troisiemes Journees d'etudes internationales de Lusotopie », reunies a Goa en fevrier 1999. Mais l'etude du theme « Lusophonies Asiatiques, Asiatiques en lusophonie » impose d'aller au-dela des mythes. La question du statut social de la langue est fondamental pour comprendre le rapport a l'identite. Les contextes historiques, economiques et politiques, expliquent aussi pourquoi le portugais peut disparaitre a Goa et a Macao, mais se maintenir a alacca ou Timor. Enfin, la presence de communautes luso-asiatiques nombr...

PART ONE: CIVILIZATION IN TRANSITION Interpretations of Indian History - Romila Thapar Colonial, ... more PART ONE: CIVILIZATION IN TRANSITION Interpretations of Indian History - Romila Thapar Colonial, Nationalist, Post-colonial Towards the Concept of a New Nationhood - U R Ananthamurthy Languages and Literatures in India Political and Critical Discriminations of Intra - and Multi-culturalisms in India Today - Rustom Bharucha Dalits - Gopal Guru Reflections on the Search for Inclusion PART TWO: ECONOMY IN TRANSITION Economic Progress in the Context of Industrialisation and Globalisation - S S Bhandare Agricultural and Agri-business Issues under Economic Liberalisation - Bhupat M Desai Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India - Ghanshyam Shah PART THREE: POLITY IN TRANSITION The Constitutional Order in India - Soli J Sorabjee A Framework for Transition Do Muslims Have A Right to their Personal Laws? - Rajeev Bhargava Elections, Parties and Democracy in India - Peter Ronald deSouza The Human Rights Agenda in India - Nawaz B. Mody PART FOUR: SOCIETY IN TRANSITION Caste and the Secularisati...

If one were challenged into choosing just one word to explain contemporary India what would that ... more If one were challenged into choosing just one word to explain contemporary India what would that word be? This may seem like a puerile challenge, trivialising the difficult task of representing India that is too complex, too ancient, and too diverse to be explained by just one word. And yet in the history of the social sciences philosophers have attempted just such an exercise of using a core word to explain the essential nature of a society. "Dharma" was given such a status in the classical Indian texts. "Value" was the word Marx chose to explain capitalism. "Trust" is a word sociologists consider central to a society’s continued existence. "Ubuntu" stakes a strong claim for that position in South Africa’s lexicon. Posing the challenge, therefore, is not as outlandish as it initially seems.

Preface Introduction - E Sridharan and Peter Ronald deSouza The Evolution of Political Parties in... more Preface Introduction - E Sridharan and Peter Ronald deSouza The Evolution of Political Parties in India A Plea for the Reconstruction of the Indian Polity - Jayaprakash Narayan Politics without Party - M N Roy The Congress 'System' in India - Rajni Kothari Party System and Electoral Politics in the Indian States, 1952-2002 - Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav From Hegemony to Convergence Party Politics and Electoral Behaviour - Myron Weiner From Independence to the 1980s The Challenge of Hindu Nationalism - Bruce D Graham The Bharatiya Janata Party in Contemporary Indian Politics Communalization of the Indian Polity - Achin Vanaik The Communist Parties in India - Valerian Rodrigues Shiv Sena - Suhas Palshikar A Tiger with Many Faces? Telugu Desam Party - K C Suri Rise and Prospects for Future Parties, the Party System and Collective Action for State Funding of Elections - E Sridharan A Comparative Perspective on Possible Options 'No' to Zenana Dabbas: - Madhu Kishwar...

Examining the micro politics of a single constituency, this study tries to explore the relationsh... more Examining the micro politics of a single constituency, this study tries to explore the relationship between the empirical and the theoretical in a working democracy. By detailing the dynamics of electoral and party politics in the context of a constituency which suffers from a" development deficit", the study examines the place of political leaders, party strategy, political ideology, political rhetoric, youth participation, voter loyalty, identity mobilisation, etc, in the democratic process. To engage with these issues of democracy-in-practice the ...

The public intellectual in India is an endangered species. Should we care? In this well-argued bo... more The public intellectual in India is an endangered species. Should we care? In this well-argued book, Romila Thapar and others tell us why we should. Thapar begins by defining the critical role that such individuals play in our societies today. Collectively, they are the objective, fearless, constructive voice that asks the awkward questions when government, industry, religious leaders and other bulwarks of society stray from their roles of ensuring the proper functioning of a country whose hallmarks are (or should be) social and economic equality, justice for all, and the liberty to say, think and profess the fundamental requirements of good citizenship. Through the lens of history, philosophy, science, and politics, she shows us the key role enlightened thinkers and activists have played in India, Europe and elsewhere. Today, as the liberal space in India is threatened by religious fundamentalism, big business, and, worryingly, a government that appears to be tacitly (and sometimes...

Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais

The Recolonization of the Indian Mind One of the most pernicious consequences of colonialism was ... more The Recolonization of the Indian Mind 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.

Economic and Political Weekly, Mar 2, 2002

Indian Youth in a Transforming World: Attitudes and Perceptions, 2009

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2003

... Zoya Hasan, Eswaran Sridharan, and R. Sudarshan (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2002), pp. ... p... more ... Zoya Hasan, Eswaran Sridharan, and R. Sudarshan (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2002), pp. ... period, thinking about decentralization benefited from the deliberations of several committees, including the three chaired by Balwantrai Mehta, Asoka Mehta, and LM Singhvi.14 In the ...