Política sem economia: comentários sobre a economia política de desmonetização na Índia

Between 8th November and 31st December 2016 the Indian government instituted one of the biggest demonetisation exercises in the world by withdrawing 86 percent of all currency in the form of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. This paper looks at the debate surrounding the demonetisation exercise and attempts to provide a political economy logic. Interrogating the various arguments around demonetisation, it argues that demonetisation has been reduced to a political posturing as the economic consequences remain highly debated.Entre 8 de novembro e 31 de dezembro de 2016, o governo indiano instituiu um dos maiores exercícios de desmonetização do mundo, retirando 86% de todas as moedas, sob a forma das notas deRs 500 e Rs 1000. Este artigo analisa o debate em torno do exercício de desmonetização e tenta fornecer uma narrativa política do evento. Interrogando os vários argumentos em torno da desmonetização, argumenta que a desmonetização foi reduzida a uma postura política, uma vez que as consequências econômicas continuam a ser altamente debatidas

Business and labor market flexibility in India: The importance of caste

Since the enactment of economic liberalization in India in the early 1990s, variation in investment climate and labor market reforms across sub-national states has been linked to the increasing relevance of business in policy making. This article argues that the influence of business on policy is conditioned by wider political dynamics. We argue that the reform orientation of states correspond to the position of business classes and caste-based groups within the support base of political parties. We show that caste identification plays an important role on the position of political parties towards business liberalization policies. Thus, we conclude that the relative power of business across the states appears to vary due to the relation between business and government, which in turn is structured by the salience of business castes as an electorally relevant group

Globalisation, policy convergence and labour market: thepolitical economy of reforms

This dissertation shows the relevance of political agency under conditions of globalisation through a sub-national comparative study of labour market reforms. The study builds upon existing literature by highlighting ‘relative autonomy’ of political actors and dynamics in determining policy and outcome. Such an assertion contradicts the purely structuralist interpretations of reform and asserts that forces of globalisation can be negotiated by domestic political actors. Based on the study of labour flexibility the dissertation argues that political variables, specifically partisan orientation and nature of party competition, influence the pace and direction of reforms producing sub-national variations. As revealed governments backed by a relatively homogenous dominant support base with business representation undertake greater labour market reforms compared to governments with heterogeneous base. The difference in orientation to reform is due to differences in distributive and redistributive pressures emanating from support base. Another important finding of this research concerns the impact of party competition on reforms. Contrary to conventional understanding that fragmentation impedes reforms, the case study, reveals that fragmentation in the party system facilitates labour market reforms. The result indicate that the impact of political fragmentation on reform is not generic, and intermediate factors such as configuration of electoral cleavages influence the relation. In sum, the dissertation argues that variations in strength of interest groups i.e. trade unions and business, the nature of party competition and configuration of electoral groups combine to produce variation in reforms. Although such a claim cannot undermine the increased relevance of market forces consequent upon globalisation, theoretically, it does point out that reforms emerge in the interrelation between economic considerations vis-à-vis political imperatives. Public policy under conditions of globalisation is shaped not merely by economic concerns but mirrors social trade-offs and varieties of social configuration

Towards what end? Collective bargaining and the making and unmaking of the working class

In contemporary literature, bargaining is often construed as an instrument in the hands of the employer, a practice that is sustained by undermining worker solidarity and promoting interests of privileged unionized workers at the expense of other workers. This article challenges such narratives by foregrounding the idea of solidarity and highlighting the complex interplay of solidarity emanating from the multiple ways consciousness about worker identity plays out. Drawing on the literature on new social movements (NSM) and industrial relations (IR), the article shows that the relevance of bargaining is not merely confined to instrumental economic goals but extends to politically constitutive action. In the process of bargaining the political agency of workers and distinctive articulations of solidarity are identified. This article presents and classifies three kinds of solidarity that correspond to the three dimensions of political consciousness, namely critical solidarity, limited solidarity and absent solidarity across cases that are shaped by contextual realities of labour politics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The pandemic and the state: Interrogating capacity and response to COVID-19 in West Bengal

COVID-19 has brought to the fore the issue of state preparedness in mitigating health emergencies. This paper problematizes the received wisdom of greater state capacity in mitigating the severity of the pandemic. Based on a case study of West Bengal, a subnational state of India, it shows that measures of state capacity do not map onto the pandemic response and outcomes very clearly. The three components of state capacity, namely authority, capacity, and legitimacy, show significant variation during the pandemic response. While the state was constrained by fiscal and infrastructural limitations in testing and vaccination, policy response also varied from harsh implementation of lockdown during the initial phase to limp containment due to populist pressures. These limitations notwithstanding, the state managed to avert the worst consequences in terms of COVID-19 deaths when compared to similarly positioned subnational states of India

Politics of Vaccine Nationalism in India: Global and Domestic Implications

The fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted from finding a cure to acquiring vaccines and organizing vaccination. The race for vaccination has exacerbated tendencies of hoarding, particularly among rich countries, academically expressed as vaccine nationalism. Vaccine nationalism is harmful to the global effort in the fight against the pandemic. India in contrast has been quite generous to its neighbours in sharing vaccines pursuing its own form of vaccine nationalism. The strategy pursued by India can be read as an effort to gloss over the failures in initial pandemic management, to improve diplomatic leverage and reinforce an idiom of nationalism. Such an effort however has potentially harmful effects undermining trust in the vaccine as well as in the government. The politicization of vaccine also has counterproductive outcomes for democratic practices within the country