Kingship without kings in northern India

Michelutti, Lucia; Piliavsky, Anastasia

doi:10.1017/cbo9781107296930.014

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Similar to mastan in Bangladesh, in India today goonda have come to represent the violent nature of party political competition, and are symbolic of brokered state–society relations, particularly for poor communities (Berenschot, ; Michelutti, ; Piliavsky and Sbriccoli, ). Terms such as ‘goonda raj’, ‘goodaism’, ‘goonda politics’ (Michelutti, : 291) and ‘goondashahi’ (Gooptu, : 413) express a similar sense to ‘mastanocracy’. Goonda have been identified as deploying violence to maintain control for party politicians, help rig elections and raise money for political campaigns (Berenschot, , ); indeed, many politicians themselves have criminal backgrounds (Vaishnav, ).…”

Section: Violence Specialists In Urban Bangladeshmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Decline of Gangsters and Politicization of Violence in Urban Bangladesh

Jackman

2018

Development and Change

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Contrary to the Weberian ideal of a central state monopolizing the means of violence, political order in many societies requires a balance of interests between diverse 'violence specialists'. In urban Bangladesh, gangsters have been identified as powerful actors, closely linked to politicians and the state. Often called mastan, they are portrayed as mediating access to work and public services, as running extortion networks and providing political muscle. Since the early 2000s Dhaka has seen radical change, largely undocumented to date: these gangsters are in significant decline. Many of the roles associated with these gangs continue, but now under the direct control of lower-level factions associated with the ruling political party -a transition that has brought a greater degree of stability to the urban context. These arguments are developed through ethnographic research from a large marketplace in the centre of Dhaka, examining the rise and fall of an infamous local gangster. In developing this case, it is argued that closer attention should be given to changes in the organization of violence within societies.

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Section: Violence Specialists In Urban Bangladeshmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Decline of Gangsters and Politicization of Violence in Urban Bangladesh

Jackman

2018

Development and Change

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“…Lucia Michelutti has discussed how goonda-style politics has become associated with Yadav political assertion which provides legitimacy among the wider public. 71 This type of muscular legitimacy remains fairly weak within the broader Bangladesh student community, where most students would consider student violence in negative terms. Muscular politics remains mainly for internal consumption, within student-political and party-political networks, and is not addressed to a wider audience.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘A Hundred Per Cent Good Man Cannot do Politics’: Violent self-sacrifice, student authority, and party-state integration in Bangladesh

Suykens¹

2018

Mod. Asian Stud.

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This article seeks to better understand political violence in Bangladesh. Analysing the case of student politics, the article enquires into the productive use of violence by student activists and leaders. It argues that student violence should not be considered as a breakdown of order or a sign of state fragility, but as a means of gaining access to party-state resources and patronage. Violence operates to mark out and maintain power relations between student groups and factions. Risk-taking and the performance of self-sacrifice are important to delineate spaces of power and broker connections to potential political patrons. While actively engaging in political violence provides legitimacy within student hierarchies, victimhood provides a powerful means of publicly displaying one's commitment to a political party. Student public authority, while violent, is closely integrated in national political-party authority structures and, as a result, is intrinsically connected to the Bangladesh party-state. While it might seem counter-intuitive, this article argues that the use of political violence helps one to gain protection from the (party-)state.

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“…Thus, in both settings violent self-driven and profit-driven sovereign acts are embedded in re-casted castebased traditions and models of authority. Today, the archetype of the brave, semi-divine patron is as widespread as ever (Michelutti, 2014b). However, the rhetoric of virtuous protection often hides a darker reality whereby political and economic allegiances are sustained through the stick, as much as the carrot.…”

Section: Martin and Micheluttimentioning

confidence: 99%

Protection Rackets and Party Machines

Martín

Michelutti

2017

Asian J Soc Sci

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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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Kingship without kings in northern India

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

The Decline of Gangsters and Politicization of Violence in Urban Bangladesh

The Decline of Gangsters and Politicization of Violence in Urban Bangladesh

‘A Hundred Per Cent Good Man Cannot do Politics’: Violent self-sacrifice, student authority, and party-state integration in Bangladesh

Protection Rackets and Party Machines

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