Comments on: Democracy and Economic Transformation – Partha Chatterjee

By: Is governmentality a dirty word? | Pop Theory

Is governmentality a dirty word? | Pop Theory — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:18:07 +0000

[...] example, Ferguson’s attention to the proliferation of social assistance programmes chimes with Partha Chatterjee’s analysis of the changed dynamics of political power in contemporary India. He suggests that the [...]

By: In the Ruins of Political Society – A Response to Partha Chatterjee « Kafila

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 10:46:22 +0000

[...] the gist of our disagreements. It was this assessment that led Partha to write the essay, ‘Democracy and Economic Transformation‘ where, in some elliptical fashion, his own discomfort with popular politics found [...]

By: In the Ruins of Political Society – A Response to Partha Chatterjee – Aditya Nigam | LSR Political Science

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:26:48 +0000

By: The Rise of the Underground - A New Discovery? « Kafila

The Rise of the Underground - A New Discovery? « Kafila — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:09:18 +0000

[...] The Rise of the Underground – A New Discovery? Believe it or not, experts at the World Bank and the IMF are disovering the virtues of something we at Kafila have been, off and on, debating: the so-called ‘underground economy’, the ‘informal sector’ or what has also been called the sphere of ‘noncorporate capital’. [...]

By: Anant

Anant — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:18:30 +0000

Dia,
Violence – physical brute violence may have a shock effect on spectators but its role in local politics is a much more complicated business. How do we explain Modi’s victory ? How do we explain the fact that every year hundreds of people are killed in Andhra Pradesh in encounters but it rarely ever becomes a determining factor in elections ? One could simply say that ‘peasants’ who must continue to live locally cannot afford to protest the same way that we can afford to protest. But that is too simplistic. In any case, I think the CPIM in Bengal – essentially a regional formation with national rhetoric – has achieved something at the level of ideology and subject formation that reminds me of the MIM in the Old City of Hyderabad. People curse the party, and can discuss at great length what is wrong with it. But when they go into the polling booth, they know what to do. It is not a rational calculation on benefits — their hands do it –Vote for MIM.

Reversing the effects of primitive accumulation – I am not sure it is “mercy politics” really. This whole microfinance business that Partha refers to is a state strategy to produce market oriented citizens.
It hinges on a representation of poor people as entreprenuerial. So, effectively, the responsibility for one’s wellbeing is shifted away from the state to the individual who must be self regulating, self disciplined and so on. So non corporate capital is mainly going to form out of that upper segment of the poor who will make the grade through these kinds of programs and become entreprenurial.
Microfinance initiatives acknowledge this structural problem. But they systematically underestimate it. In their calculations only five per cent of the total number of poor belong in that section who simply will have to be provided for by social safety nets. The rest can look after themselves through the markets. Hence the ever expanding microfinance – niche marketing of financial services for the poor. And web campaigns like “End of poverty is just one click away”.
How should we understand this segment of petty traders and small producers that are sought to be consolidated as the pliable populations of cities of tomorrow ? What role are they going to play visavis the other social groups ? How are they going to be emplaced ? How will the state deal with the contradictory pulls of having to create clean and neat cities that can attract investments and at the same time not be so violent as to lead to a legitimacy crisis?

By: Dia Da Costa

Dia Da Costa — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:57:47 +0000

While I appreciate Chatterjee’s formulation of the non-corporate capital and its connection to governmentality, how do we understand the violence of the state? On what grounds does CPM violence assume continued support from peasant populations? Is it as Chatterjee suggests that state violence has less significance than the fact that people seek benefits from local government and hence do not join in the protests? Or is it that the “moral-political sway” of the market episteme is increasingly hegemonic and collaborates with the “mercy politics” of reversing the effects of primitive accumulation?

By: Aditya Nigam

Aditya Nigam — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:32:36 +0000

Dear Anant,
Actually this is an open debate. Some friends had asked us to initiate a debate and they will be writing certainly. But other submissions are equally welcome. The only request to everybody is that the tone of the debate should remain conducive to debating and not degenerate into a slanging match. You – and others interested – are welcome to write either as a formal piece or as extended comment, whichever you prefer. Beyond that, it remains, I guess a freewheeling exercise. There cannot possibly be an outcome of the debate.
AN

By: Anant

Anant — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:08:09 +0000

[...]Many friends and colleagues in Kolkata and elsewhere have requested Kafila to provide the forum for this debate, considering the common interest that many of us have in issues raised here[...]

Aditya,
can you tell us if there is some structure to this debate/forum ? What is to be expected in terms of formal critiques…(such as those posted by you and Prasanta) when and from whom ? And what is to be regarded as a useful outcome of this debate ?
I guess I am asking for some sort of a framework or plan so as to make this a really useful exercise.
If it is to be a freewheeling sort of thing, thats okay too but it will be good to know.

By: Prasanta Chakravarty - Of Demos, Innovation and Affect « Kafila

Prasanta Chakravarty - Of Demos, Innovation and Affect « Kafila — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:53:16 +0000

[...] Chakravarty – Of Demos, Innovation and Affect Carrying forward the debate around Partha Chatterjee’s article in [...]

By: Political Society and the Fable of Primitive Accumulation « Kafila

Political Society and the Fable of Primitive Accumulation « Kafila — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:34:51 +0000

[...] Society and the Fable of Primitive Accumulation [This is a response to Partha Chatterjee, whose recent essay we had posted for further [...]