All Shook Up?

2020 ◽  
pp. 157-174
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Autonomy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Indian State ◽  
Dominant Classes

The Political Economy and Development of India (PEDI) outlined highly influential theories of both the Indian state and its bureaucracy. Professionals within the public sector were one of Bardhan’s three competing dominant classes, yet he was also clear that the state was an autonomous actor distinct from the rent-seeking officials who populated its lower ranks. Three decades later, economic reforms have ostensibly challenged the public sector’s economic, ideological, and policy dominance. This chapter argues that the Indian system remains more statist—and correspondingly less ‘pro-business’—than many scholarly interpretations today allow. Nonetheless, elite public sector professionals have become fragmented that challenge their coherence as a class, while new obstacles to effective state autonomy have arisen from the nexus between politicians and the petty bureaucracy.

A Discussion of Katherine J. Cramer's The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-522
Author(s):  
Christina Wolbrecht
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Thick Description ◽  
The Public ◽  
Interpretive Theory

The policies of Republican Governor Scott Walker have come to symbolize a resurgent assault on the public sector, and on public employee unions in particular, by the Republican Party. The fact that this is happening in Wisconsin, the state that in the last century was considered the “laboratory of Progressivism,” makes the politics surrounding these policies all the more compelling. In The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker, Katherine J. Cramer analyzes the “politics of resentment” surrounding these developments. Employing an ethnographic “method of listening,” Cramer furnishes thick description of the political language employed by rural Wisconsinites, and proceeds to develop an interpretive theory of “political resentment” that illuminates the reasons why lower-class citizens so strongly oppose public policies seeking to offset social and economic inequality. The book is important methodologically and politically. We have thus invited a range of social and political scientists to comment on the book as a work of political science and as a diagnosis of the current political moment.

A Discussion of Katherine J. Cramer's The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-524
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Dudas
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Thick Description ◽  
The Public ◽  
Interpretive Theory

The policies of Republican Governor Scott Walker have come to symbolize a resurgent assault on the public sector, and on public employee unions in particular, by the Republican Party. The fact that this is happening in Wisconsin, the state that in the last century was considered the “laboratory of Progressivism,” makes the politics surrounding these policies all the more compelling. In The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker, Katherine J. Cramer analyzes the “politics of resentment” surrounding these developments. Employing an ethnographic “method of listening,” Cramer furnishes thick description of the political language employed by rural Wisconsinites, and proceeds to develop an interpretive theory of “political resentment” that illuminates the reasons why lower-class citizens so strongly oppose public policies seeking to offset social and economic inequality. The book is important methodologically and politically. We have thus invited a range of social and political scientists to comment on the book as a work of political science and as a diagnosis of the current political moment.

scholarly journals A Loosening Grip: Why Do Autocracies Engage in the Neoliberalization of Their Welfare Sectors?

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-164
Author(s):  
Ilia Viatkin ◽  
Kristina Komarova
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Modernization Theory ◽  
Departure Point ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives

Despite the wealth of studies on neoliberalism, research on why authoritarian states engage in processes of neoliberalization remains scarce. Therefore, our article seeks to explore why autocracies use neoliberal power practices, which, as suggested by Foucauldian governmentality approach to neoliberalism, are understood as governance techniques aimed primarily at disciplining and controlling populations through promoting the free market as a key form of societal organization. Empirically, these power practices can manifest in a state’s withdrawal from the provision of welfare services. However, scholars have argued that control over the public sector is essential to the maintenance of authoritarian regimes, and hence, governments must have compelling reasons to opt for its neoliberalization. In this study, we employ three mutually nonexclusive theoretical perspectives that suggest incentives that may motivate autocrats to retreat from the welfare sector; these are the authoritarian legitimation, authoritarian modernization, and political economy perspectives. By means of a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we tested the foregoing theories on a sample of 42 autocracies active during 1980–2005. The results revealed that authoritarian modernization theory has the highest explanatory capacity, as it identifies two distinct pathways to public sector neoliberalization—internal and external policy considerations or one of the two—while the political economy perspective was an important theoretical concern in several cases. Overall, our paper contributes to research on the governmentality approach to neoliberalism and serves as a departure point for further investigations into neoliberal authoritarianism.

scholarly journals Alberta’s 2002 Teacher Strike: The Political Economy of Labor Relations in Education

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Bob Barnetson
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Canadian Province ◽  
The Public ◽  
Worker Resistance

In 2002, approximately two thirds of school teachers in the Canadian province of Alberta went on strike. Drawing on media, government and union documents, this case study reveals some contours of the political economy of labor relations in education that are normally hidden from view. Among these features are that the state can react to worker resistance by legally pressuring trade unions and justifying this action as in the public interest. This justification seeks to divide the working class and pit segments of it against each other. The state may also seek to limit discussion and settlements to monetary matters to avoid constraining its ability to manage the workplace or the educational system. This analysis provides a basis for developing a broader theory of the political economy of labor relations in education. It also provides trade unionists in education with information useful in formulating a strike strategy.

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