scholarly journals Brushing with Organized Crime and Democracy: The Art of Making Do in South Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 991-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashraf Hoque ◽  
Lucia Michelutti
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Contact Zone ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Comparative Ethnography

This article explores the performances of a particular category of young men often derogatively referred to as“chamchas”(sycophants) who are using the art of making do(jugaad)by exploiting and bluffing links with powerful political networks and political parties, as well as friendships with strongmen and their criminal crews. Crucially, the comparative ethnography across India (western Uttar Pradesh) and Bangladesh (Sylhet) introduces readers to the “contact zone” where legality, semi-legality, and organized criminal systems meet. In so doing, the article unravels the working of the democratically elected “Mafia Raj.”

Political Interaction Beyond Party Lines: Communication Ties and Party Polarization in Parliamentary Twitter Networks

2021 ◽  
pp. 089443932098756
Author(s):  
Marc Esteve Del Valle ◽  
Marcel Broersma ◽  
Arnout Ponsioen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Exponential Random Graph Models ◽  
Party Polarization ◽  
Exponential Random Graph ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
High Degree

A growing body of research has examined the uptake of social media by politicians, the formation of communication ties in online political networks, and the interplay between social media and political polarization. However, few studies have analyzed how social media are affecting communication in parliamentary networks. This is especially relevant in highly fragmented political systems in which collaboration between political parties is crucial to win support in parliament. Does MPs’ use of social media foster communications among parliamentarians who think differently, or does it result in like-minded clusters polarized along party lines, confining MPs to those who think alike? This study analyzes the formation of communication ties and the degree of homophily in the Dutch MPs’ @mention Twitter network. We employed exponential random graph models on a 1-year sample of all tweets in which Dutch MPs mentioned each other ( N = 7,356) to discover the network parameters (reciprocity, popularity, and brokerage) and individual attributes (seniority, participation in the parliamentary commissions, age, gender, and geographical area) that facilitate communication ties among parliamentarians. Also, we measured party polarization by calculating the external–internal index of the mentions. Dutch MPs’ communication ties arise from network dynamics (reciprocity, brokerage, and popularity) and from MPs’ participation in the parliamentary commissions, age, gender, and geographical area. Furthermore, there is a high degree of cross-party interactions in the Dutch MPs’ mentions Twitter network. Our results refute the existence of “echo chambers” in the Dutch MPs’ mentions Twitter network and support the hypothesis that social media can open up spaces for discussion among political parties. This is particularly important in fragmented consensus democracies where negotiation and coordination between parties to form coalitions is key.

Islamo-nationalism, domestic politics, and Bangladesh’s policy of balancing against India since the 1990s

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-364
Author(s):  
Md. Abdul Mannan
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The Self ◽  
Weak States ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Nationalist Party ◽  
The Face ◽  
Islamic Identity

This article examines the connection between politics of Islamo-nationalism in Bangladesh and Bangladesh’s policy of balancing against India. In response to India’s regional supremacy in South Asia, especially India’s dominance over Bangladesh, policy makers in Bangladesh have constantly faced two options: either ‘bandwagoning’ with India, or ‘balancing’ against the regional hegemon. Interestingly, since the 1990s until 2013, Bangladesh’s response has always swung from one side to another – from bandwagoning to balancing – in connection with the rotation of Bangladesh regime between two major political parties: the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Bangladesh Awami League (AL). Bangladesh – with the BNP’s hold on power – preferred a policy of balancing against India’s dominance. During the regime of the AL, such policy dramatically shifted towards bandwagoning with India. The BNP’s preference for a balancing policy constitutes a puzzle. Weak states – which are not capable of changing unequal outcomes in the face of a preponderant power – generally pursue a policy of bandwagoning. Thus, the puzzle is as to why Bangladesh – despite being a weak actor vis-a-vis India’s overwhelming regional supremacy – pursued a policy of balancing against India during the BNP’s hold on power. This article asserts that the BNP’s politics of Islamo-nationalism is a key variable that can answer the above puzzle. The ‘self–other’ notion of Islamo-nationalism defines the national ‘selfness’ of Bangladesh in terms of the Islamic identity for its overwhelming Muslim masses, and constructs India, henceforth in this article, ‘Hindu India’, as the ‘enemy–other’ to ‘Muslim Bangladesh’.

scholarly journals Space of Green Politics in South Asia: Myth Or Reality?

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-260
Author(s):  
Altaf Majeed ◽  
Mussawar Hussain Bukhari ◽  
Ali Shan Shah ◽  
Mian Muhammad Azhar
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Forest Conservation ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Green Politics ◽  
Grass Root

Green politics is a political ideology comprises social progress through sustainable development, peace, social justice, and grass-root democracy. Green politics is an evolving trend in world politics emerged in 1970s and revolutionized the political scenarios after the mid-80s with the discovery of ‘Ozone Hole’ in 1984. Currently, green or eco political parties are popular in many advance countries such as Germany, France, UK, Netherland, and Spain etc. Regions which present a bleak picture on eco-politics are backward in environmental sustainability, and same is the case with South Asia. Environment is considered a secondary thing in South Asia; because region is already tackling the primary goals of life such as food, shelter, inflation, health, and education etc. Until achieving these goals; eco-politics will remain an illusion in South Asia despite facing many environmental related challenges. Hence, environmental slogans are not Asian political parties. Yet, there are some conservation and reforestation projects such as a billion-tree project in KPK of Pakistan or KFCC (Kerala forest conservation campaign) etc. South Asia is prone to climate change and global warming; Karachi, Mumbai, and Maldives are in the immediate threat to be drowned till 2050 if the sea level keeps rising due to the melting of glaciers. Hence, the need is to focus on more environmental oriented political programs before it is too latepopular in the region. There is a nominal finding about environment in the manifestoes of South. 

Communal Mobilization and Riots in Western Uttar Pradesh

2018 ◽  
pp. 222-272
Author(s):  
Sudha Pai ◽  
Sajjan Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Local Leaders

This chapter based on fieldwork in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts describes the communal incidents from 2011 onwards and the riots in September 2013. Contrasting narratives emerged from discussions with community leaders in Muzaffarnagar town and selected Jat-dominated and Muslim-majority villages forming the epicentre of the riots, which indicate high levels of aggression, a pogrom and Muslim exodus in some villages. The fieldwork revealed the deeply implicating role of political parties: local BJP leaders were aware of and in some cases involved in the rioting; SP leaders remained largely silent hoping to gain Muslim support in the 2014 elections. As the BSP’s support base and cadre straddles the Hindu, that is, Dalit and Muslim community, local leaders found it difficult to deal with the rioters. These developments indicate the successful creation in these districts particularly in the sample villages, of a system of institutionalized everyday communalism, visible two years after the riots.

Mobilizing Restraint: Economic Reform and the Politics of Industrial Protest in South Asia

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 676-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Teitelbaum
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Economic Reform ◽  
Organized Labor ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Major Party ◽  
Political Exclusion ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Grievance Resolution

The study draws on evidence from South Asia to explore how union partisan ties condition industrial protest in the context of rapid economic change. It argues that unions controlled by major political parties respond to the economic challenges of the postreform period by facilitating institutionalized grievance resolution and encouraging restraint in the collective bargaining arena. By contrast, politically independent unions and those controlled by small parties are more likely to ratchet up militancy and engage in extreme or violent forms of protest. The difference between the protest behavior of major party unions and other types of unions is explained by the fact that major political parties are encompassing organizations that internalize the externalities associated with the protest of their affiliated unions. Using original survey data from four regions in South Asia, the study shows that party encompassment is a better predictor of worker protest than other features of the affiliated party or the union, including whether the party is in or out of power, the ideological orientation of the party, or the degree of union encompassment. The analysis has implications for the policy debate over whether successful economic reform is contingent upon the political exclusion or repression of organized labor.

How Indian Parties Connect Voters to Leaders

Asian Survey ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 969-990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kushner
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Party Platforms

How do political parties in developing countries, without access to accurate polling data, understand their voters? I examine the role that various sources of information play in political party platforms, and how the method of data collection affects parties’ policy and political efforts, primarily by using interview data from 2012 and 2013 with workers from four leading parties in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. I theorize the role of party workers as a key conduit for information between party leaders and the voters they represent.

Citizens, Infiltrators, and Others

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-208
Author(s):  
Bharat Bhushan
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
The Political ◽  
Population Register ◽  
National Register ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
National Population Register ◽  
Political Objective ◽  
Decision Cost

This article will address the political objective behind the Modi government passing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), planning to prepare a National Population Register (NPR) and a National Register of Citizens (NRC). It will examine the psychological impact of these moves on the minority community and why these moves were seen as precursors to their possible political disenfranchisement. It will examine the manner in which anti-CAA/NPR/NRC protest sites came up spontaneously across the country, how these protests were organized, and their lack of a clear leadership. It will also examine the decision of mainstream Opposition parties to keep away from these protests and the consequences of this decision. It will argue that this decision cost the political parties and the nation dearly. It shifted the political discourse within the majoritarian spectrum and led to these parties losing credibility with the protestors and the minority community. Finally, it will also examine the failure of the mainstream political parties in preventing violence by the state against the protestors (such as in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi) and in moderating the protests so that they do not fall prey to violent provocation.

Textbook Conflicts in South Asia

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepa Nair
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
South Asia ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nation States ◽  
National Memory ◽  
Publishing Houses ◽  
Political Milieu ◽  
New Nation

The aftermath of World War II saw the emergence of many new nation-states on the Asian geopolitical map and a simultaneous attempt by these states to claim the agency of nationhood and to create an aura of a homogenous national identity. Textbooks have been the most potent tools used by nations to inject an idea of a national memory - in many instances with utter disregard for fundamental contradictions within the socio-political milieu. In South Asia, political sensitivity towards transmission of the past is reflected in the attempts of these states to revise or rewrite versions which are most consonant with the ideology of dominant players (political parties, religious organizations, ministries of education, publishing houses, NGOs, etc.) concerning the nature of the state and the identity of its citizens. This paper highlights the fundamental fault lines in the project of nation-building in states in South Asia by locating instances of the revision or rewriting of dominant interpretations of the past. By providing an overview of various revisionist exercises in South Asia, an attempt will be made to highlight important issues that are fundamental to the construction of identities in this diverse continent.

Dalit Question and Communalism in Uttar Pradesh in the 2000s

Social Change ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudha Pai
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Significant Aspect ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
Clear Shift ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
Communal Riots ◽  
Large Sections

After widespread violent riots following the Ram Janma Bhoomi Babri Masjid (RJBBM) Movement and the destruction of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, there were no major riots in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the second half of the 1990s. Political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), attempted to use the Ram Mandir issue during elections in the late 1990s but did not get a response. However, during the 2000s, the state witnessed a new ‘saffron wave’. Riots took place in the eastern districts of Mau in 2005, Gorakhpur in 2007 and there was a spurt of communal tension in some western districts from 2011 leading to violent riots in Muzaffarnagar and surrounding districts in September 2013. Based on a study of the communal riots mentioned earlier (Pai & Kumar, 2018, Everyday Communalism: Riots in Contemporary Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi: Oxford University Press), it is argued that during the 2000s, UP experienced a post-Ayodhya phase of communalism, markedly different from the earlier phase during the RJBBM period. Our study points to a clear shift in the theory and praxis of Hindutva and thereby, from older forms of communalism to newer ones, more suited to the contemporary socio-economic and political context. The riots enabled the BJP to create deep-seated communal polarisation, consolidate the Hindu vote and win elections, at the centre and later in UP. In this article, the focus is on one significant aspect of the riots in eastern and western UP, which differentiates it from earlier riots––the Dalit Question, its relationship to communalism and the part played by dalits. Election studies and data suggest that some sections of the dalits––who do not form a homogeneous group––supported the BJP during the 2014 and 2017 elections in UP simultaneously a section were co-opted into the ambit of the larger identity of Hindu. The BJP leadership reworked their ideology and strategies of Hindutva to mobilise dalits in order to gain their support and win power. Yet, paradoxically from 2015, and more stridently in 2018, we find large sections of dalits opposing the BJP.

Protection Rackets and Party Machines

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 693-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Martin ◽  
Lucia Michelutti
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
North India ◽  
Indian Context ◽  
Protection Rackets ◽  
The Relationship

Control over means of violence and protection emerge as crucial in much research on corruption in non-South Asian contexts. In the Indian context, however, we still know little about the systems of organised violence that sustain the entanglement of crime, capital and democratic politics. This timely comparative ethnographic piece explores two different manifestations of what our informants identify as “Mafia Raj” (“rule by mafia”) across North India (Uttar Pradesh and Punjab). Drawing on analytical concepts developed in the literature on bossism and “mafias”, we explore protection and racketeering as central statecraft repertoires of muscular styles of governance in the region. We show how a predatory economy together with structures of inter- and intra-party political competition generate the demand for and the imposition of unofficial and illegal protection and shape different manifestations of Mafia Raj. In doing so, the paper aims to contribute to debates on the relationship between states and illegalities in and beyond South Asia.

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