State Formation and Radical Democracy in India

Abstract

State Formation and Radical Democracy in India analyses one of the most important cases of developmental change in the twentieth century, namely, Kerala in southern India, and asks 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 experienced the same degree of success in raising equal access to welfare, literacy and basic subsistence. This comparison brings historical state legacies, as well as 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 postindependence political and economic direction, drawing on several comparative cases to formulate a substantive theory as to why Kerala has succeeded in spite of the widespread assumption that the Indian state has largely failed. Drawing conclusions that offer a divergence from the prevalent wisdoms in the field, this book will appeal to a wide audience of historians and political scientists, as well as non-governmental activists, policy-makers, and those interested in Asian politics and history.

Embedded Mobilization: Nonstate Service Provision as Electoral Strategy in India

“…Instead, electoral actors and movement activists found their shared interests converging around the recruitment of lower castes. For an India-specific example, see Desai 2007. cause it was implemented by nonelectoral activists who seemed to be removed from the "dirty river" of party politics, despite their clearly political motivations. 6 Roberts 2002, 8.…”

Health Inequalities in South Asia at the Launch of Sustainable Development Goals: Exclusions in Health in Kerala, India Need Political Interventions

“…The empirical evidence since the late 19th century indicates that the political and cultural awakening for civic rights strengthened through the anti-caste movements and radical political mobilizations. 70 Given the multiple linkages of health, the mass politicization may have become the prime mover favoring the social sector gains that included better budgetary outlays for health and education in Kerala history. Although, various studies attribute better clinical care even during the princely rule and education, particularly female education, as the main factors contributing to the health transition.…”

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Left Government in West Bengal, 1977–2011: Strains of Governance and Socialist Imagination

“…That Kerala compares favourably with West Bengal appears paradoxical since the Left in that state has been in office only intermittently, since pioneering a democratically elected communist government in 1957. Analyses of the Kerala experience emphasize the depth and reach of autonomous social movements ‘ranging from caste, land struggles, labour struggles, social reform, intra-family reforms and anti-colonial struggles’ (Desai, 2007, p. 120; see also Heller, 2000; Öktem, 2012; Verghese, 2007). The embeddedness of the communist Left within such movements is central to an explanation of the success of a raft of universalistic social programmes in that state.…”