Desentrañar la política, editado por Saurabh Dube e Ishita Banerjee (original) (raw)

The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World By Partha Chatterjee

Journal of Third World Studies, 2009

The postmodern political Agency deals with the complex crossing of the primary issues of contemporary political philosophy in governance, including the dispute between the modern and the postmodern as different and opposite means of ideas. With reference to the obvious serious loss of confidence in Western model of democracy that failed to make any significant mark in the developing world, many scholars have argued that in the field of philosophy and political discourses, there are many different paths to the turn from the modern to the postmodern, representing a complex narratives of diverse and often divergent trails through different disciplines and cultural/moral terrains. One pathway moves through Michel Foucault who denies that there can be any basis for objective descriptive statements of social reality or universal normative statements that are not socially conditioned and locally bound. Troubled by the sad developments of positivist modernity, Partha Chatteijee, of prestigious Subaltern Studies in India, offers a new web of conceptual definition of identity politics in selected countries. Using a sound group of literature from India, he demonstrates how local forms of popular politics have transformed both the local communities as well as national scenes. He argues that democracy "should be seen as politics of the governed" (p. 4). The core issue is about the "ethical dimensions" of the new democratic

Three Essays on Politics

2019

We are living in turbulent political times. While social struggles for equality, rights and justice have had a positive impact on our world, we face new challenges and many of our old problems remain unsolved. Democracy is in crisis across the globe and the decolonial project remains as urgent and incomplete as ever. What has become clear is that we cannot rely on existing frameworks, institutions and elites to come up with the solutions. We need to think differently, creatively and boldly. We need to cultivate new forms of collective action and new forms of solidarity across division. And we need to develop new intellectual and practical tools to help us build the sort of world we all want to live in. These three essays are a humble offering towards this aim. They form the first in a series aimed at reinvigorating critical and engaged debate about both the theory and praxis of progressive politics. This booklet is produced as part of the ‘Building New Social Imaginaries Project’ funded by the UK AHRC and run by Dr Kiran Grewal, Goldsmiths College University of London and Dr Sivagnanam Jeyasankar, Swami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies, Eastern University of Sri Lanka. The essays are the joint work of Dr Kiran Grewal, Ms Kaushalya Ariyarathne and Ms Hasanah Cegu Isadeen. We thank the Law and Society Trust, Colombo, our civil society partner for administrative support provided towards the project.

Partha Chatterjee: The Politics Of The Governed: Reflections On Popular Politics In Most Of The World

Book review Partha Chatterjee: The Politics Of The Governed: Reflections On Popular Politics In Most Of The World , 2022

In The Politics of the Governed, Partha Chatterjee discusses among others topics like nationalism, the evolution of modern Kolkata, population citizen debate and America's hegemonic role before and after 9/11. The writings were culled from lectures he gave in the US and India. Although The Politics of the Governed continues to view India as

Political Processes under the Microscope: Comparative Ethnography as an Approach to Understanding Democracy and Elections in India

Studies in Indian Politics, 2017

The study of democracy in its similarities and differences has been among the most important agenda for comparative social theory in contemporary times. The endeavour of comparison has advanced a purely normative understanding of democracy, rooted in the idea of its being a form of rule legitimated by the people, to a greater understanding of its structures and processes-the variety of empirical conditions under which its facets play out. Since the arena of democracy has now expanded to include a majority of the countries of the world 2-its ferment as Diamond (1990) notes, having spread to '…the world's most isolated, unlikely, and forgotten places', and also the challenge of understanding the plurality and differences of contexts under which electoral institutions operate, consent and consensus obtained, and citizen rights secured. This piece advances a methodological proposition in favour of the use of an ethnographic approach for the comparative study of democracy and elections in India. The appeal of this approach is twofold , it is argued: First, it helps us overcome the narrow rationality and exclusionary understanding of democracy as modernization-a guiding paradigm within comparative politics. Second, it advances our understanding of the substantive meanings associated with democracy as it flourishes in unexpected conditions of social traditionalism and economic poverty. In this case, democracy as it guides the thoughts and political actions of India's poor and marginalized, as part of a holistic culture within which individual rationality or group action can be meaningfully interpreted. This approach and the substantive considerations on democracy that follow are a contrast to the widely prevalent use of large-scale surveys in comparative politics. While the comparative ethnographies enhance our understanding of citizens acting within cultures of politics, the large-scale surveys have a thin yet aggregate understanding of individual action and cultural values. It also brings the unanticipated to the fore-ordinary people appear on the stage of politics with their agency, not simply as averages of numbers, playing out a force of history. Note: This section is coordinated by Divya Vaid (divya.vaid.09@gmail.com).