Publications
The State Strikes Back: India and the Naga Insurgency
Strikes Back: India and the Naga Insurgency
Abstract
In the first decade after declaring independence in 1947, the Indian state faced numerous challenges to its very existence and legitimacy. These ranged from a war with Pakistan over the state of Jammu and Kashmir immediately after independence to the first armed uprising in the country in Telengana led by Communists in what is today the state of Andhra Pradesh.
When an armed revolt against the very idea of India erupted in the distant Naga Hills of Assam state in the 1950s, the Indian government was quick to act by using the full force of the army and, in some cases, the air force, as well as its paramilitary and local police. It enacted special parliamentary legislation such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) to give security forces even more powers and protect them from criminal prosecution for any "normal" violation of the law since these were regarded as extraordinary responses.
This monograph addresses the tackling of nationalist aspirations through the use of the AFSPA, with a focus on Nagaland; it analyzes the approach and its impact of Naga society, as well as the fallout for the Indian state.
This is the fifty-second publication in Policy Studies, a peer-reviewed East-West Center series that presents scholarly analysis of key contemporary domestic and international political, economic, and strategic issues affecting Asia in a policy relevant manner.
Policy Studies, No. 52
Publisher: Washington D.C.: East-West Center in Washington
Publication Date: 2009
Binding: paper
Pages: ix, 56
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Conflict and Peace in India’s Northeast: The Role of Civil Society
Conflict and Peace in India’s Northeast: The Role of Civil Society
Policy Studies, No. 42
Publisher: Washington, D.C.: East-West Center Washington
Publication Date: 2007
ISBN: 978-1-932728-68-2
Abstract
This monograph examines the role of civil society groups in peace building in three conflict regions in India's Northeast—Assam, Naga Hills/Nagaland, and Mizo Hills/Mizoram. These political conflicts are complex with each conflict representing a cacophony of competing, often zero-sum demands.
In investigating the role of civil society groups, the study distinguishes between "official" (between the Government of India and certain insurgent organizations) and "unofficial" peace processes at the local level that makes coexistence of diverse communities possible despite the continuing violence. These two processes reflect very different ways of addressing conflict and defining the role of civil society groups in peace building.
In the official peace process, the role of civil society groups is to bring warring parties to the negotiating table, set forth potentially agreeable ceasefire terms, and suggest possible settlements. The emphasis is on finding solutions at the macro level in the belief that settlement will also lead to resolution of micro level problems. In contrast the role of civil society groups in the unofficial processes is to constantly negotiate across ethnic boundaries and make it possible for rival communities to live together in the same village, locality, or neighborhood. Compromise is required at every level for conflict resolution. Popular initiatives also help insulate the general population from rebel groups.
The official and unofficial peace processes often proceed on parallel tracks with minimum impact on each other. It is important for the two processes to be connected. For civil society groups to be more effective in peace building, they must be socially integrated and develop synergy with other constituents and stakeholders.
Indian Politics and Society since Independence: Events, Processes and Ideology
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Indian Politics and Society since Independence: Events, Processes and Ideology
Focusing on politics and society in India, this book explores new areas enmeshed in the complex social, economic and political processes in the country. Linking the structural characteristics with the broader sociological context, the book emphasizes the strong influence of sociological issues on politics, such as social milieu shaping and the articulation of the political in day-to-day events. Political events are connected with the ever-changing social, economic and political processes in order to provide an analytical framework to explain ‘peculiarities’ of Indian politics. Bidyut Chakrabarty argues that three major ideological influences of colonialism, nationalism and democracy have provided the foundational values of Indian politics.
Structured thematically and chronologically, this work is a useful resource for students of political science, sociology and South Asian studies.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1. Setting the Scene 2. Shaping Indian Politics: The Language of Identity 3. Indian Democracy: Liberalism in its Reinvented Form 4. Parliamentary Federalism in India: Redefining the Westminster Model 5. The Chaotic 1960s: A Decade of Experiments and Turmoil 6. The Left Front and the 2006 Assembly Elections in West Bengal: Marxism Reinvented 7. Coalition Politics in India: Cultural Synergy or Political Expediency. Conclusion
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ISBN: 978-0-415-40868-4
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Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
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Published by: Routledge
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Publication Date: 2nd May 2008
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Pages: 264
India's North East Region: Insurgency, Economic Development and Linkage with South Asia
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India's North East Region: Insurgency, Economic Development and Linkage with South Asia
Peace Accords in Northeast India: Journey over Milestones
Peace Accords in Northeast India: Journey over Milestones
Publisher: Washington D.C.: East-West Center in Washington
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 987-1-932728-74-3
Abstract
This monograph examines the effectiveness and sustainability of peace accords in Northeast India. A comparative examination of thirteen accords signed in the region between 1949 and 2005 finds that only one--the Mizo Accord of 1986--was successful in creating an enduring peace. Most often, mediators and negotiators have seen a peace accord as an endpoint instead of viewing it as just one part of a peace process.
Unfortunately, the accord-making processes in Northeast India have been flawed: preaccord talks have not been inclusive; the provisions agreed upon with one group frequently conflict with the interests of another; accords contain provisions that cannot be implemented; or they do not deal with core issues. Moreover, no responsive and accountable political infrastructure has been created in Northeast India either for conflict resolution or for governance itself.
Arguing that holistic peace processes are more important than peace accords on their own, the author argues that to be successful peace processes should contain multiple platforms for dialogue, build civil society's ability to engage in the process, be inclusive and sustained, involve separate pacts for each area of agreement rather than omnibus accords, and imagine nonterritorial solutions.
Globalization and Religious Nationalism in India: The Search for Ontological Security
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Globalization and Religious Nationalism in India: The Search for Ontological Security
Exploring the effects of globalization in India and the problem of identity formation, this book contributes to the theoretical and empirical debate on identity, globalization, religious nationalism and (in)security.
The author puts forward a new approach based on political psychology, to interpret identity construction, which is seen as an individualized process where interactions of the global and the local are intimately implicated. Thereby, this book presents a psychological analysis of how increased insecurity affects individuals’ and groups’ attachments to religious nationalism in an era of globalization.
Developing an interesting angle on a recognized issue of concern in the politics of South Asia, and much more broadly in the context of the contemporary world and developing global politics, this is a valuable addition to normative critical social theory and the debate on identity and culture in political science and international relations, appealing to an inter-disciplinary audience.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements. List of Abbreviations. Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Globalization, (In)security and Religious Nationalism 1. Globalization and Destabilization: Approaching (In)Security 2. Securitized Subjectivity: Others and the Emotional Aspects of Identity (Re)Construction 3. Nationalism and Religion as Securitizers of Subjectivity: Local Responses to Global Destabilization Part 3: Religion and Nationalism in India 4. Situating Sikh and Hindu Nationalism 5. Globalization, Modernity and the Limitations of Sikh Nationalism 6. Globalization, Modernity and the Power of Hindu Nationalism 7. Culturalism and the Future of Identity Relations in India. Glossary. Notes. Bibliography. Index
About the Author(s)
Catarina Kinnvall is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden. Her research interests include international relations theory and political psychology, focusing on globalization and religious nationalism in Asia. Her recent publications include Globalization and Democratization in Asia: The Construction of Identity (with Kristina Jönsson, eds).
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ISBN: 978-0-415-40547-8
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Binding: Hardback
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Published by: Routledge
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Publication Date: 11th October 2006
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Pages: 240
State Formation and Radical Democracy in India
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State Formation and Radical Democracy in India
State Formation and Radical Democracy in India analyzes one of the most important cases of developmental change in the twentieth century, namely, Kerala in southern India and begs the question of whether insurgency among the marginalized poor can use formal representative democracy to create better life chances. Going back to pre-independence, colonial India, Manali Desai takes a long historical view of Kerala and compares it with the state of West Bengal, which like Kerala has been ruled by leftists but has not had the same degree of success in raising equal access to welfare, literacy, and basic subsistence. This comparison brings the role of left party formation and its mode of insertion in civil society to the fore, raising the question of what kinds of parties can effect the most substantive anti-poverty reforms within a vibrant democracy.
This book offers a new, historically based explanation for Kerala’s post-independence political and economic direction.
Table of Contents
1. Old Legacies, New Protests 2. The Political-Economy of Rule and Rebellion 3. State Formation and Social Movements 4. Political Practices and Left Ascendancy in Kerala, 1920-1947 5. Structure, Practices and Weak Left Hegemony in Bengal, 1925-1947 6. Insurgent and Electoral Logics in Policy Regimes, Kerala and Bengal Compared, 1947-1991. Afterword
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ISBN: 978-0-415-40769-4
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Binding: Hardback
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Published by: Routledge
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Publication Date: 21st November 2006
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Pages: 208
Starvation and India’s Democracy
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Starvation and India’s Democracy
This book analyzes India’s impressive efforts in responding to sensational and easily visible disasters in contrast to the ‘silent emergency’ of drought-induced under nutrition and starvation deaths. Building on Amartya Sen’s famous claim that no famine has ever occurred in a democratic country, it re-examines the relationship between democracy, public action and famine prevention. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data in India at national, state and local levels as well as in-depth field visits to two states on India’s east coast, Orissa and West Bengal, the author analyzes the following issues:
- the interaction between specific institutions in India and their accountability to the public
- the role of the media in highlighting problems of extreme poverty and destitution and the effectiveness of political and administrative responses to such reports
- the extent to which tribal groups are vulnerable to starvation and famine, and an analysis of whether starvation deaths in drought-prone Kalahandi district in Orissa are unique in India
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the impact of two major nutrition programmes, the Public Distribution System (PDS) and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), in reducing the incidence, duration and impact of starvation deaths.
Starvation and India’s Democracy will be of interest to researchers in economics, political science, philosophy, development studies and South Asian studies.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 2. Democracy and Starvation 3. Kalahandi’s Poverty 4. Drought and State Action 5. Legal Interventions and Administrative Response to Starvation 6. The Vocal Press 7. The Politics of Starvation and Calamity Relief 8. Parliamentary Activism 9. Purulia’s Achievement 10. Conclusion
About the Author(s)
Dan Banik is Associate Professor at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, where he teaches graduate courses on poverty and development. His research interests include human rights, extreme poverty, democracy, corruption, development ethics and the implementation of public policy in developing countries.
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ISBN: 978-0-415-40729-8
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Binding: Hardback
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Published by: Routledge
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Publication Date: 27th March 2007
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Pages: 240
India - From Regional to World Power
About the Book
This book examines the rise of India to the status of a world power capable of dealing with the full spectrum of international and regional issues in a critical part of the world. It traces the evolution of Indian diplomacy in the hands of key Indian practitioners comparing Nehru, the founder of Indian diplomacy with his successors, the Nehruvians up to 1998, and finally, Vajpayee, the leader of the BJP (1998-2004). Its main purposes are to explain the strategic and ideological context in which Indian diplomacy was framed, the character of India’s foreign policy problems, the nature and sources of its dilemmas and the paradigm shift that was orchestrated by the BJP government to reposition India in the international system and to bring it into the global strategic and economic mainstream. It shows how the approach laid down by Nehru and followed by his successors (an approach that included nuclear self-restraint, the search for friendly relations with Pakistan and China, seeking the high ground in moral and diplomatic spheres, and giving a lead to the non-aligned Third World) has been replaced by a new, more self-confident and assertive approach based on India's growing economic strength and demonstrating a more strategic and pro-Western orientation. Overall, this book provides a meticulous account of many steps post-Nehruvian India has taken to make it a rising world influence and a mature, independent power.
Reviews
'This book examines the rise of India to the status of world power. It traces the evolution of Indian diplomacy in the hands of key Indian practitioners, comparing Nehru, the founder of Indian diplomacy with his successors.' - Oxfam Development Resources Review
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: India as a Catalyst 2. Shifts in Indian Diplomatic History 3. Strategic Triangles and the Indian Subcontinent 4. Indian Strategic Debates and Dilemmas: Analytical Constructs 5. Nature of India’s Foreign Policy: Utopia, Compromise Pease or Engagement? 6. The Build-up of the Suzerain States’ System in the Subcontinent, 1947 – 1990s 7. The Typology of Threats to India and The Nehruvian Record, 1964-98 8. Nehru’s Innovations and Their Problems 9. Nehruvians and the Rise of Anti-India Trends in Foreign Affairs 10. The External Determinants of Change in Indian Foreign Affairs, 1960s – 1990s 11. India’s Antagonists Re-Group, 1971-1980s 12. Liberating India and Its Nuclear Policy From the Nehruvian Shackles 13. India’s Rise as a Major Power, 1990s 14. BJP’s Geopolitics and Building Strategic Triangularities Epilogue
About the Author(s)
Ashok Kapur is Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo. He specializes in South Asian diplomatic and strategic issues including nuclear weapons and missile proliferation as well as regional security structures in Asia. Born in Lahore, he grew up in Shimla and did his advanced graduate work in Washington, DC and Ottawa.
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ISBN: 978-0-415-44802-4
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Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
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Published by: Routledge
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Publication Date: 14th May 2007
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Pages: 288
The Territories and States of India
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The Territories and States of India
About the Book
This invaluable collection of information provides an in-depth guide to the regional dimension of the politics and economy of this vast and complex country. Incomparable in its coverage, it supplies the reader with a more complete understanding of India as a whole.
Part One: Introduction
An informative essay on the political development of India; The Centre and the States: Evolution of a Union
* a chronology of the country, with particular emphasis on regional issues
* statistics of major demographic and economic indicators, including comparative data
* information about the structure and organization of the national government in India.
Part Two: Territorial Surveys
Providing a wealth of information on each of the twenty-eight states and seven territories, each chapter includes:
* details of geography
* an account of the current and historical political situation
* an economic survey, including key statistics and details of infrastructure, agriculture, industry and tourism
* a directory of leading officials.
Reviews
'This is an excellent book for reference shelves.' - Reference Reviews
- ISBN: 978-1-85743-148-3
- Binding: Hardback
- Published by: Routledge
- Publication Date: 26th September 2002
- Pages: 320
- Illustrations: 36 maps
Fighting Like a Guerrilla: The Indian Army and Counterinsurgency
About the Book
This book deals with two significant issues: the peculiar and paradoxical question of why regular armies, better suited to fighting conventional high-intensity wars, adopt inappropriate measures when fighting guerilla wars; and the evolution of the Indian army’s counterinsurgency doctrine over the last decade. In addition, the book also includes the first detailed analysis of the trajectory of the army’s counterinsurgency doctrine, arguing that while it was consolidated only over the last decade, the essential elements of the doctrine may in fact be traced back to the army’s first confrontation with the Naga guerillas in the 1950s. It outlines the three essential elements that make up the Indian army’s counterinsurgency doctrine:
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that there are no military solutions to an insurgency;
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that military force can only help to reduce levels of violence to enable political solutions; and
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that there should be limited use of military force.
Rajagopalan argues that international circumstances — particularly the need to counter conventional military threats from Pakistan and China — led to a counterinsurgency doctrine that had a strong conventional war bias. This bias also conditioned the organisational culture of the Indian army.
Table of Contents
1. The Puzzle: Conventional Armies and Guerrilla Wars 2. Guerrilla Wars and International Political Theory 3. Taming the Tigers: The IPKF in Sri Lanka 4. Evolution of the Indian Army’s Counterinsurgency Doctrine 5. Assessing the Explanations
About the Author(s)
Rajesh Rajagopalan is Associate Professor in International Politics at the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Previously, he was Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi (2002-2004), and Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi (1998-2000, 2001-2002). He also served as Deputy Secretary in the National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India (2000-2001). His areas of research interest are international relations theory, military doctrines, and nuclear weapons and disarmament. His publications include a book, Second Strike: Arguments about Nuclear War in South Asia (2005); and articles in a number of academic journals including Contemporary Security Policy, India Review, South Asian Survey, Contemporary South Asia, Small Wars and Insurgencies, and Strategic Analysis as well as in Indian newspapers such as The Hindu, The Indian Express, Financial Express, and The Hindustan Times.
The Puzzle of India's Governance: Culture, Context and Comparative Theory
The Puzzle of India's Governance: Culture, Context and Comparative Theory
About the Book
India no longer gets an easy ride as the world's largest democracy. Spectacular terrorist attacks on its Parliament and places of worship, communal riots of unprecedented ferocity, lingering separatist insurgency and violent caste conflict in impoverished regions have combined to cause a closer appraisal of India's capacity to sustain the rule of law.
This book shows how governance is high when people follow the rules of transaction, derived from binding custom, legislation, administrative practices and the constitution. The key question that underpins this analysis is why do some people, sometimes, follow rules and not others? This study responds to this central question by looking at analytical narratives of political order in six Indian regional States, surveys of social and political attitudes and extended interviews with political leaders, administrators and police officers. It shows how, by drawing on the logic of human ingenuity, driven by self interest rather than mechanical adherence to tradition and ideology, these regional elites can design institutions and promote security, welfare and identity which enhance governance.