Beyond Conspiracy and Coordinated Ascendancy: Revisiting Caste Question in West Bengal under the Left Front Rule (1977–2011)

2021 ◽  
pp. 2455328X2110084
Author(s):  
Ayan Guha
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Unintended Consequence ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Tactics ◽  
Lower Castes ◽  
Left Front

This article has critically engaged with the speculative claim that the disappearance of caste question from public discourse during Left rule in West Bengal was a result of conscious upper-caste ploy to silence articulation of caste interests and tactfully eliminate the possibility of Dalit political assertion. To verify the veracity of this claim, this study has critically scrutinized Left Front’s political mobilization strategy of rural population and also its landmark land reform initiative. The investigation attempted by this article, in this regard, has revealed that there is little to suggest the existence of any organized upper-caste conspiracy. It is, however, true that the articulation and aggregation of political demands along the lines of caste was indeed averted in West Bengal through political tactics and developmental strategies devised by the upper castes. But, the marginalization of the caste question in mainstream politics was an unintended consequence of such political tactics and developmental strategies which were primarily designed with the objective to preserve and enlarge the political support base, rather than to contain the lower castes. Thus, political motives acted as far more important determinants of political and developmental activities rather than any inherent caste bias.

A Left Front Election

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
MUKULIKA BANERJEE
Keyword(s):  
West Bengal ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Messages ◽  
Left Front

This chapter discusses the electoral ethnography of a campaign in the state of West Bengal. It presents a thick ethnographic description of the campaigning process and traces the numerous techniques used. The political messages and organisational hierarchies at every level of the state's population help in answering why incumbent governments suffer repeated electoral defeats.

Advertisements and the Public Discourse in a Democracy

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoav Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The Law

Modern advertisements contain little information and expose few arguments. They rarely describe the product and its usage or compare it to similar products. Yet, advertisements convey many messages—they attach meaning to products, suggest values, and spread a particular view of life. Advertisements create a failure in the democratic process; through advertising, commercial corporations intervene in the democratic discourse. Citizens are intensively exposed to the consumerist worldview while alternative points of view are scarcely presented in the communicative sphere.But commercial corporations are not legitimate participants in the public discourse in a democracy since they do not represent the political support of citizens. Presently, courts grant advertisements freedom of speech protection based on the importance of providing information for viewers. But by doing this, courts ignore the value suggesting messages prevalent in modern advertisements.For many years the law in the domain of campaign finance has restricted the speech of corporations in order to prevent distortion of the political discourse prior to elections. Similarly, we should allow the State to intervene to repair the failure in the public discourse created by advertisements. The law regarding informative messages and value-suggesting messages contained in advertisements should treat each separately, and advertisers should not be permitted to convey messages of the latter.

scholarly journals LAND REFORMS IN AN INDIAN STATE: LESSONS FROM THE EXPERIENCES OF IMPLEMENTATION

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Prabhat Kumar Datta ◽  
Panchali Sen
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Land Reforms ◽  
The Poor ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Indian State ◽  
Left Front

Until the shift of developmental policy in India in 1990s the state used to play an instrumental role India’s development. By the time India attained independence it was widely regarded that semi feudal landlordism was the main obstacle in the way of national economic regeneration. In this paper an attempt has been to capture the processes of land reforms in India’s West Bengal under the Left Front rule and to critically review impact of this programme on village society. This paper also seeks to identify reasons with the help of empirical studies why it has not been possible for the Left Front Government to achieve the declared objectives of the programme. Major transformations in economic, social and political fields during the first two decades of the Left Front rule characterized by the successful implementation of land reform programmes but failed to produce sustained benefits to the poor beneficiaries of land reforms. The panchayat institutions were unsuccessful in making the poor realize that the existing social situation was not conducive for meeting their basic needs. The concluding part of the paper tries to bring together the lessons that the other countries or states in a federal system can learn from the experiences of implementation of land reforms programme in West Bengal. 

scholarly journals Determinants of Redistributive Politics: An Empirical Analysis of Land Reforms in West Bengal, India

2010 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 1572-1600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pranab Bardhan ◽  
Dilip Mookherjee
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Land Reforms ◽  
Reform Implementation ◽  
Political Determinants ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The Right ◽  
Lack Of Commitment ◽  
Left Front

We investigate political determinants of land reform implementation in the Indian state of West Bengal. Using a village panel spanning 1974–1998, we do not find evidence supporting the hypothesis that land reforms were positively and monotonically related to control of local governments by a Left Front coalition vis-à-vis the right-centrist Congress party, combined with lack of commitment to policy platforms. Instead, the evidence is consistent with a quasi-Downsian theory stressing the role of opportunism (reelection concerns) and electoral competition.(JEL D72, O13, O17, Q15)

The Russian Federation after the ‘Colour Revolutions’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Félix Krawatzek
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Young People ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Youth Discourse

The mobilization by young people in the Russian Federation illuminates an important part of the stabilization of the country’s authoritarian regime structures from 2005 to 2011. First the political developments of the episode are contextualized by contrasting the regime’s insecurity in 2005 with the situation by 2011. After discussing the socio-political context of young people during the post-Soviet transition years, the chapter explores the findings from the discourse network analysis. Public discourse and political mobilization interact and the chapter discusses the spectrum of politically involved youth from pro-Kremlin groups to the very diverse opposition, including liberal democratic movements, fascists, and communists. It is argued that the regime’s success in capturing control over youth discourse and young people was critical in the consolidation of Vladimir Putin’s power.

Can Land Reform Avoid a Left Turn? Evidence from Chile after the Cuban Revolution

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe González
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Cuban Revolution ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Left Turn ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Alliance For Progress ◽  
Incumbent Party

Abstract Following the creation of the Alliance for Progress in 1961, several structural reforms were implemented in Latin America in response to the political effects of the Cuban Revolution. Among these, land reform was arguably the most important policy. Using a unique dataset of land expropriations, and a plausible exogenous variation in land concentration, this paper studies the causal effects this policy had on political support for the incumbent party in the central government. In a context where the incumbent was losing political support (and the power of the left wing was rising), municipalities affected by land reform voted by 3–5 percentage points higher for the incumbent than municipalities not affected by this process. Although it did not prevent the first democratically elected Marxist government, land reform decreased the political support for the left wing party. I discuss several theoretical mechanisms that can explain this empirical result.

Ein Ende mit Schrecken – Frankreich nach den Wahlen

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (188) ◽  
pp. 495-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Syrovatka
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
Crisis Of Representation ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Deep Crisis

The presidential and parliamentary elections were a political earthquake for the French political system. While the two big parties experienced massive losses of political support, the rise of new political formations took place. Emmanuel Macron is not only the youngest president of the V. Republic so far, he is also the first president not to be supported by either one of the two biggest parties. This article argues that the election results are an expression of a deep crisis of representation in France that is rooted in the economic transformations of the 1970s. The article analyses the political situation after the elections and tries to give an outlook on further political developments in France.

Inequality and Radical Land Reform: Some Notes from West Bengal

Asian Survey ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 718-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jnanabrata Bhattacharyya
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
West Bengal

Land Reform in Zimbabwe: a Balance of Political Expediency and Economic Inevitability?

2020 ◽  
pp. 14-29
Author(s):  
Lyubov Prokopenko
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
Union Leader ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Region ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
National Union ◽  
Reform Program ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

The article considers the political aspect of land reform in the Republic of Zimbabwe. The problem of land reform has been one of the crucial ones in the history of this African country, which celebrated 40 years of independence on April 18, 2020. In recent decades, it has been constantly in the spotlight of political and electoral processes. The land issue was one of the key points of the political program from the very beginning of Robert Mugabe’s reign in 1980. The political aspect of land reform began to manifest itself clearly with the growth of the opposition movement in the late 1990s. In 2000–2002 the country implemented the Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP), the essence of which was the compulsory acquisition of land from white owners without compensation. The expropriation of white farmers’ lands in the 2000s led to a serious reconfiguration of land ownership, which helped to maintain in power the ruling party, the African National Union of Zimbabwe – Patriotic Front (ZANU – PF). The government was carrying out its land reform in the context of a sharp confrontation with the opposition, especially with the Party for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The land issue was on the agenda of all the election campaigns (including the elections in July 2018); this fact denotes its politicization, hence the timeliness of this article. The economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe in the 2000–2010s was the most noticeable phenomenon in the South African region. The analysis of foreign and domestic sources allows us to conclude that the accelerated land reform served as one of its main triggers. The practical steps of the new Zimbabwean president, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, indicate that he is aware of the importance of resolving land reform-related issues for further economic recovery. At the beginning of March 2020, the government adopted new regulations defining the conditions for compensation to farmers. On April 18, 2020, speaking on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the independence of Zimbabwe, Mr. E. Mnangagwa stated that the land reform program remains the cornerstone of the country’s independence and sovereignty.

The Political Misery of the Common Man of West Bengal

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee ◽  
Pramod Kumar
Keyword(s):  
West Bengal ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Man
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