The Political Project of Postcolonial Neoliberal Nationalism

The starting point of this article is the recognition of globally proliferating right-wing electoral successes of a specific kind that rely upon a weaving together of seemingly contradictory aspects of neoliberalism and nationalism. An important dimension of these globally occurring changes is that they reflect something more than simply the empirical instantiation of a right-wing success in any one specific context. They require us to unravel and understand the transmutations in the nature of the political and the economic in the contemporary postcolonial world. Here, I focus on the relevance of uncovering the powerful weave of nationalism, neoliberalism, and postcolonialism that lies behind such configurations of power; a governmentality I refer to as PNN (postcolonial neoliberal nationalism). An understanding of PNN requires us to challenge the a priori availability to analysis of either neoliberalism or nationalism in isolation; neoliberalism and nationalism are not only not contradictory to each other, but as projects of re-forming imaginaries, they co-constitute the ideas of “market/economy” and “nation/culture.” Further, PNN makes visible the ambivalent status of “the West,” since it is imbued with the historical legacy of colonial memory re-called into the present as a revanchist pride, and combined with the conflicting aspirational/actual consumption desires to emulate the capitalist imperial metropolitan fantasies. I use the example of India to illustrate how PNN has been enacted as a technique of governmentality by the Modi-led BJP government through the reformulation of Swadeshi and the Make in India project

'Where is Bhutan?': The Production of Bhutan's Asymmetrical Inbetweenness in Geopolitics

In this paper, I interrogate the exhaustive ‘inbetweenness’ through which Bhutan is understood and located on a map (‘inbetween India and China’), arguing that this naturalizes a contemporary geopolitics with little depth about how this inbetweenness shifted historically over the previous centuries, thereby constructing a timeless, obscure, remote Bhutan which is ‘naturally’ oriented southwards. I provide an account of how Bhutan’s asymmetrical inbetweenness construction is nested in the larger story of the formation and consolidation of imperial British India and its dissolution, and the emergence of post-colonial India as a successor state. I identify and analyze the key economic dynamics of three specific phases (late 18th to mid 19th centuries, mid 19th to early 20th centuries, early 20th century onwards) marked by commercial, production, and security interests, through which this asymmetrical inbetweenness was consolidated. Bringing together sources from different disciplines combined with archival work, this account also challenges some dominant historical scholarship on Bhutan in each phase. I conclude by emphasizing that critical work at the intersection of geographical/political/historical contingencies is important to the subalternizing of geopolitics, which recognizes the myriad ways in which dominant powers have shaped both the geopolitical environment as well as knowledge-making that has constrained small states

India’s obsession with Kashmir: democracy, gender, (anti-)nationalism

This article attempts to make sense of India's obsession with Kashmir by way of a gendered analysis. I begin by drawing attention to the historical and continuing failure of Indian democracy in Kashmir that results in the violent and multifaceted dehumanisation of Kashmiris and, in turn, domesticates dissent on the question of Kashmir within India. This scenario has been enabled by the persuasive appeal of a gendered masculinist nationalist neoliberal state currently enhanced in its Hindutva avatar. My focus is on understanding how the violence enacted upon the Kashmiri bodies is connected to feminised understanding of the body of Kashmir in India's imagination of itself as a nation-state. I argue that the gendered discourses of representation, cartography and possession are central to the way in which such nationalism works to legitimise and normalise the violence in Kashmir. I conclude with a few reflections on how Kashmir is a litmus test for the discourse on (anti)nationalism in contemporary India

Coloniality and/as Development in Kashmir: Econonationalism

This article identifies the colonial imperative of ‘we must develop them, with or without their consent’, which is used by the Indian state in order to dominate Kashmiri Muslims, and argues that this notion of development combines patriarchal silencing of the subjugated as well as a gendered fantasy of liberating oppressed Kashmiri women and minorities. While the colonial nature of Indian rule over Kashmir has been a long-term phenomenon, the focus in this article will primarily be on a specific political transformation imposed by the Indian state since August 2019, when even the pretence of autonomy and recognition was given up, and all phenomena constituting coloniality became conspicuous and acute. Adopting a feminist lens, I highlight nine features of contemporary Indian coloniality in Kashmir: denial of consent, paternalism, violence, enforced silencing, lack of accountability, arbitrariness, divide and rule, humiliation and a specious idea of development. I further argue that such a notion of coloniality as development is better understood as ‘econonationalism’ (akin to homonationalism and femonationalism), where the supposed liberatory ideas are rhetorically deployed to mask a dehumanising subjugation

The Misogyny of Authoritarians in Contemporary Democracies

Abstract (in English) Contemporary democracy in multiple countries has been under assault from what has been variously called right-wing populism, authoritarian populism, cultural majoritarianism, new nativism, new nationalism, quasi-fascism, and neo-fascism. While the authoritarian behaviors of several electorally legitimated leaders in these countries have been in focus, their misogyny is seen as merely an incidental part of their personality. This article highlights the centrality of misogyny in legitimating the political goals and regimes of a set of leaders in contemporary democracies—Trump, Modi, Bolsonaro, Duterte, and Erdogan (all but Trump are still in power)—in countries from across Global North/South, non-West/West, with mixed populations and different majority religions. The argument proceeds as follows. First, I clarify the conceptualization of misogyny and explain why it matters. Second, I demonstrate the substantive misogyny of political leaders who are/have been heads of hegemonic right-wing political projects in five contemporary democracies (Trumpism, Modification, Bolsonarismo, Dutertismo, and Erdoganism). Third, I put forward three systematic ways in which misogyny works as an effective political strategy for these projects, by enabling a certain politics of identity to demonize opponents as feminine/inferior/anti-national, scavenging upon progressive ideas (rather than rejecting them) and distorting them, and sustaining and defending a militarized masculinist approach to policy and delegitimizing challenges to it. This article, thus, contributes to the literature on how masculinity, misogyny, and gender norms more broadly intersect with political legitimacy, by arguing for understanding the analytic centrality of misogyny to the exercise of political power in multiple global projects. Abstract (in Spanish) La democracia contemporánea en varios países ha sido atacada por lo que se ha denominado de diversas maneras como populismo de derecha, populismo autoritario, mayoritarismo cultural, nuevo nativismo, nuevo nacionalismo, cuasifascismo, neofascismo. Si bien se ha centrado la atención en los comportamientos autoritarios de varios líderes legitimados electoralmente en estos países, su misoginia se considera simplemente una parte incidental de su personalidad. En este artículo, se destaca la centralidad de la misoginia en la legitimación de los objetivos políticos y los regímenes de un conjunto de líderes en las democracias contemporáneas: Trump, Modi, Bolsonaro, Duterte y Erdogan (todos menos Trump se encuentran en el poder) en países del norte/sur global, orientales y occidentales, con poblaciones mixtas y diferentes religiones mayoritarias. El argumento procede de la siguiente manera. En primer lugar, aclaro la conceptualización de la misoginia y explico por qué es importante. En segundo lugar, demuestro la misoginia sustantiva de los líderes políticos que son, o han sido, jefes de proyectos políticos hegemónicos de derecha en cinco democracias contemporáneas (trumpismo, modificación, bolsonarismo, dutertismo, erdoganismo). Por último, planteo tres formas sistemáticas en las que la misoginia funciona como una estrategia política eficaz para estos proyectos, al permitir: una determinada política de identidad para demonizar a los oponentes como femeninos/inferiores/antinacionales; una búsqueda de las ideas progresistas (en lugar de rechazarlas) y distorsionarlas; sostener y defender un enfoque masculinista militarizado de la política y deslegitimar los desafíos que se le plantean. Por lo tanto, en este artículo se contribuye a la literatura sobre cómo la masculinidad, la misoginia y las normas de género se cruzan de manera más amplia con la legitimidad política, al defender la comprensión de la centralidad analítica de la misoginia en el ejercicio del poder político en múltiples proyectos globales. Abstract (in French) La démocratie contemporaine de multiples pays a été prise d'assaut par ce qui a été diversement qualifié de populisme de droite, de populisme autoritaire, de majoritarisme culturel, de nouveau nativisme, de nouveau nationalisme, de quasi-fascisme ou de néo-fascisme. Bien qu'une attention ait été accordée aux comportements autoritaires de plusieurs dirigeants légitimés par l’électorat de ces pays, leur misogynie est souvent simplement considérée comme étant une composante accessoire de leur personnalité. Cet article met en évidence la centralité de la misogynie dans la légitimation des objectifs et régimes politiques de tout un ensemble de dirigeants de démocraties contemporaines—Trump, Modi, Bolsonaro, Duterte et Erdogan (tous sauf Trump sont encore au pouvoir)—de pays du monde entier, qu'ils soient des pays du Nord, du Sud, occidentaux ou non-occidentaux, et dont les populations sont mixtes et les religions majoritaires sont différentes. Je traite cet argument de la manière suivante: D'abord, je commence par clarifier la conceptualisation de la misogynie et par expliquer en quoi elle est importante. Ensuite, je démontre la misogynie substantielle des dirigeants politiques qui sont/ont été à la tête de projets politiques de droite hégémonique dans cinq démocraties contemporaines (Trumpisme, Modification, Bolsonarisme, Dutertisme, Erdoganisme). Enfin, je mets en avant trois manières systématiques dont la misogynie fonctionne comme stratégie politique efficace pour ces projets, en permettant: une certaine politique de l'identité diabolisant les opposants comme étant féminins/inférieurs/anti-nationaux, une récupération et une déformation des idées progressistes (plutôt que de les rejeter), et le maintien et la défense d'une approche masculiniste militarisée de la politique tout en délégitimant les contestations de celle-ci. Cet article contribue ainsi à la littérature portant sur la façon dont la masculinité, la misogynie et les normes de genre s'entrecroisent avec la légitimité politique en plaidant pour une compréhension de la centralité analytique de la misogynie dans l'exercice du pouvoir politique dans de multiples projets mondiaux

Small state, big example: Covid pandemic management in Bhutan

In this article, I reflect upon the reasons why a country like Bhutan has been able to successfully manage the pandemic in a way that many larger and wealthier nations have not

Beyond India and China: Bhutan as a Small State in International Relations

This article makes a novel contribution to the literature on Bhutan’s International Relations (IR) by shifting the focus away from an exclusively India–China framing. First, it points out how small states are increasingly salient but under-studied in IR and how non-European non-island states like Bhutan are even more so, and why we gain by addressing this. Second, it shows how the conventional study of Bhutan has solely focused on its friendship with India and the threat to it/this from China, and why it is important that these conventional narratives be critically examined. In doing so, we perceive the endogenous drivers of Bhutan’s foreign policies, for instance via Bhutan’s stance on the Doklam issue. Third, going beyond the three typical determinants (economic factors, bilateral relations with India, and threats from China), the article provides two additional axes of understanding Bhutan’s foreign policies – bridging of attributional distances and learning from experience

The Persistence of Political Power: A Communist ‘Party Village’ in Kerala and the Paradox of Egalitarian Hierarchies

This article combines political analysis with ethnographic fieldwork to theorise Communist party’s construction of political allegiance and their persistence of power in the democratic context at a local village level in the state of Kerala in India. We provide an inaugural scholarly conceptualisation of an empirical phenomenon, known in Kerala popular parlance as ‘party gramam’ or the ‘party village’, as the focus of analysis. As we explain, a ‘party village’ is an administrative unit where a particular political party dominates not simply electorally but in all lived experience. We posit that the concept of ‘party village’ is of specific value in our understanding of various forms of current (Communist) politics. The original ascendancy of communism in the village (as in many regions of Kerala) during the twentieth century was due to its progressive ideological challenge to feudal structures of class and caste oppression. However, in democratic post-independence India, the overwhelming dominance of Communist Party in the 'party village' presents the paradox of a party with an egalitarian ideology having adapted to a persistent Hindu caste hierarchy. After situating our work within the conceptual problematisations of political party competition, and in conversation with wider communist studies literature, we provide a background to the politics of Kerala and explain the unique phenomenon of ‘party villages’ in Kerala. We then provide an insight into the social and economic structures of one such village, explaining the salience of these structures in relation to political allegiances. Next, we illustrate the paradox of continued caste hierarchies in a Communist Party village, and the multiple ways in which Hindu religion and caste structures are important to performing individual identity in social settings. We dissect the various means through which the grassroots Communist Party apparatus in the village maintains its dominance by adapting itself to regressive caste hierarchies for political profit at the same time as laying claim to having challenged them. In our concluding section, we place our village observations in the longer frame of historical north Kerala village politics, noting the changes over time and offering theoretical perspectives upon them. In this sense, through a mix of empirical observation with historical context and theorisation, we highlight the importance and the implications of unconventional democratic dynamics more generally

Metals get an awkward cousin

A newly predicted state of matter is a simple theoretical example of a phase that conducts electricity but is not smoothly connected to our conventional model of metals. A viewpoint on arXiv:1201.5998.Comment: Physics 5, 82 (2012

Dynamic elastic properties and magnetic susceptibility across the austenite-martensite transformation in site-disordered ferromagnetic Ni-Fe-Al alloy

Besides permitting an accurate determination of the ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic phase transition temperature and the characteristic temperatures for the beginning and end of the growth of martensite (austenite) phase at the expense of austenite (martensite) phase while cooling (heating), the results of an extensive ac susceptibility, sound velocity and internal friction investigation of the thermoelastic martensitic transformation in melt-quenched (site-disordered) Ni55Fe20Al25 alloy provide a clear experimental evidence for the following. Irreversible thermoelastic changes (thermal hysteresis) occur in the austenite phase in the premartensitic regime. In the heating cycle, the system retains the "memory" of the initiation and subsequent growth of the martensitic phase (at the expense of the parent austenite phase) that had taken place during the cooling cycle in the austenite-martensite phase coexistence region. We report and discuss these novel findings in this communication.Comment: 5 figure