Professor of Political Science at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. Address: CSSSC, R-1, Baishnabghata Patuli Township Kolkata-700094, India
This book evaluates the promise of human progress and secularism in grand political narratives of... more This book evaluates the promise of human progress and secularism in grand political narratives of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, comparing counter-narratives of South Asia within the context of a fast-changing twenty-first century. The book embraces a broad range of sources and theoretical approaches that include political philosophy, film, and ideological discourse analysis. In the twenty-first century, global inequality and significant growth of religious and majoritarian nationalisms have been appended with a protracted economic slowdown and recession in many countries. Examining what went wrong in terms of secularism and distributive justice in India, this book critiques the Euro-American visions of democracy, global capitalism, and their so-called universality. As an alternative, it proposes a progressive politics of radical democracy for the Indian people. Reconsidering alternatives to capitalism, western secularism and the radical possibilities of Islamism, Political Theory and South Asian Counter-Narratives will appeal to students and scholars of political theory, international relations, global history, and South Asian politics.
Table of Contents Part 1: Political Narratives 1. Introduction: Progress Contra Evolution 2. Elusiveness and Necessity of Justice: A Political Exposition 3. Avatar: A Political Cinema 4. Theology and Ideology: Political Reading of Islamic Discourses 5. The Promise of Alternative: Transforming Capitalism? 6. Public Protests and Ethics of Dissent in Our Times Part 2: South Asian Counter Narratives 7. Dilemma of Muslim Belonging in Modern South Asia 8. Majoritarian Nationalism in India 9. Rightwing Populism and Political Rhetoric in Contemporary India 10. Electoral Democracy and State Populism in India 11. Fortunes of Radicalism: Indian Maoists and the Parliamentary Left
Close to the turn of the century and almost 45 years after Independence, India opened its doors t... more Close to the turn of the century and almost 45 years after Independence, India opened its doors to free-market liberalization. Although meant as the promise to a better economic tomorrow, three decades later, many feel betrayed by the economic changes ushered in by this new financial era. Here is a book that probes whether India’s economic reforms have aided the development of Indian Muslims who have historically been denied the fruits of economic development.
Maidul Islam points out that in current political discourse, the ‘Muslim question’ in India is not articulated in terms of demands for equity. Instead, the political leadership camouflages real issues of backwardness, prejudice, and social exclusion with the rhetoric of identity and security. Historically informed, empirically grounded, and with robust analytical rigour, the book tries to explore connections between multiple forms of Muslim marginalization, the socio-economic realities facing the community, and the formation of modern Muslim identity in the country. At a time when post-liberalization economic policies have created economic inequality and joblessness for significant sections of the population including Muslims, the book proposes working towards a radical democratic deepening in India.
Table of contents List of Tables List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements
Prologue: Muslim Identity Formation in Neoliberal India
Chapter 1: The Muslim Question in the Neoliberal Regime
Chapter 2: Imag(in)ing Indian Muslims in Post-liberalization Hindi Cinema
Chapter 3: Indian Muslims and the Politics of Affirmative Action
Chapter 4: Political Articulations of Indian Muslims in an Era of Globalization
Epilogue: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics in India
This book focuses on Islamism as a political ideology by taking up the case of Jamaat-e-Islami in... more This book focuses on Islamism as a political ideology by taking up the case of Jamaat-e-Islami in contemporary India and Bangladesh. It probes at whether Islamism can articulate a politics of alternative in a world marked by capitalist globalization and neoliberal consensus; what happens to the promise and goal of Islamism in providing an alternative to capitalism after the failure of twentieth-century socialism; and if a religious ideology like Islamism can represent a politics of social transformation, or can it only limit itself as a peculiar politics of resistance and critique to neoliberal capitalism. This book addresses how, in a contemporary globalized world, Islamists construct an antagonistic frontier and try to mobilize people behind the political project of Islamism. It deals with the Islamist critique of neoliberal economic policies and ‘western cultural globalization’. Further, it analyzes why Islamists are opposed to such issues as atheism, blasphemy and sexual freedom. Finally, it traces the contemporary crisis of Islamist populism in providing an alternative to neoliberalism.
Contents List of Tables Acknowledgements
Introduction: Islamism(s) of Academics and Islamists Chapter 1: Islamism and Ideology: Philosophical Issues and Analytical Categories Chapter 2: Islamism in Neoliberal India Chapter 3: Ideological Articulations of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Chapter 4: Islamism in a Muslim Majority Context: The Case of Bangladesh Chapter 5: The Crisis of Islamist Populism of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Chapter 6: Islamism in Contemporary India and Bangladesh: Comparative Overview of the Politics of Alternative
This article examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is atta... more This article examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is attached to official policies of the regime, creating fear and hopelessness within sections of the population. In this study, five sets of political activities of the government are evaluated. First, cultural authoritarianism became apparent with complicity toward “cow vigilantism,” slapping sedition charges against those showing political dissent, banning the history books of selected progressives, and stereotyping sections of the left and liberals as antinationals. Second, the demonetization policy was implemented without adequately following the economic protocols of the state. Third, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill indicates the thwarting of democratic and federalist ideas. Fourth, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam demonstrate the communal-fascist worldview of the regime in profiling population groups. Finally, the sloppy handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new Information Technology rules show the government's callous approach toward science and privacy. By analyzing such political activities, the article points out that majoritarian religious nationalism, coupled with authoritarianism, has been the ideological expression of the Modi regime, coexisting with both state surveillance and electoral democracy.
This article examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is atta... more This article examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is attached to official policies of the regime, creating fear and hopelessness within sections of the population. In this study, five sets of political activities of the government are evaluated. First, cultural authoritarianism became apparent with complicity toward “cow vigilantism,” slapping sedition charges against those showing political dissent, banning the history books of selected progressives, and stereotyping sections of the left and liberals as antinationals. Second, the demonetization policy was implemented without adequately following the economic protocols of the state. Third, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill indicates the thwarting of democratic and federalist ideas. Fourth, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam demonstrate the communal-fascist worldview of the regime in profiling population groups. Finally, the sloppy handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new Information Technology rules show the government's callous approach toward science and privacy. By analyzing such political activities, the article points out that majoritarian religious nationalism, coupled with authoritarianism, has been the ideological expression of the Modi regime, coexisting with both state surveillance and electoral democracy.
Seminar (November 2022: The Past as Present), 2022
It is often alleged that Hindi cinema has misrepresented the past. Indian history has been depict... more It is often alleged that Hindi cinema has misrepresented the past. Indian history has been depicted with popular myths and stating wrong historical facts in several Bollywood movies in the recent past. In particular, the depiction of the Sultanate period, the Mughal period and its aftermath in various films have been notorious. In contrast, this paper will highlight The Tashkent Files (2019), a film that deals with a more recent episode of contemporary Indian history during the decolonial decade of the 1960s. The film focuses on the death of India's second Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, in Tashkent. The movie dabbles with conspiracy theory while making direct accusations of a planned murder by international secret agencies and insiders of the Congress party that would have eventually benefited Indira Gandhi to become the next prime minister following the death of Shastri.
An interview on the contemporary socio-economic and political situation of Indian Muslims after t... more An interview on the contemporary socio-economic and political situation of Indian Muslims after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
On 22nd August 2017, the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment, terming the pronou... more On 22nd August 2017, the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment, terming the pronouncement of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat or heretical and irregular mode of divorce) as ‘unconstitutional’ by a 3:2 majority vote in a five-judge bench. In this respect, this paper will analyse the legal and the theological discourse that has been part and parcel of the public debates on instant triple talaq and how the judicial pronouncement has created a condition for the possibility of reforming the Muslim Personal Law in India. In doing so it will foreground a precedence of deterrence to instant divorce in Islamic history and Islamic theological discourses.
Several scholars within the two separate disciplines of political economy and political philosoph... more Several scholars within the two separate disciplines of political economy and political philosophy in the academy have so far been interested in thinking of a social structure beyond capitalism or have been interested in constructing an alternative system to capitalism. This paper will follow the legacy of imagining an alternative to capitalism in the twenty-first century by evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the extant scholarship on alternatives to capitalism with particular reference to the theory and practice of boycott movements and Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS). In effect, it will chart out the possibilities of an alternative by analysing the inherent problems of contemporary capitalism in the twenty-first century.
The paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the communists of West Bengal in fulfilling t... more The paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the communists of West Bengal in fulfilling the secular promises enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
The questions of antagonism, hegemony and imperialism are missing in Amartya Sen’s treatise, "The... more The questions of antagonism, hegemony and imperialism are missing in Amartya Sen’s treatise, "The Idea of Justice". One cannot comprehensively understand the notions of justice and injustice without addressing these core issues.
This chapter looks at an essential feature of West Bengal politics, which is the limited influenc... more This chapter looks at an essential feature of West Bengal politics, which is the limited influence of big national parties (the Congress and the BJP) in the state. Further, the chapter asks whether there is any possibility of increasing the support of those parties among the electorate of West Bengal especially after 2014 parliament and 2016 assembly elections. It attempts to answer the question mentioned above by analysing the broad political trends in the state in the last four decades.
The paper deals with three key moments in the historical evolution of the concept of jihad. While... more The paper deals with three key moments in the historical evolution of the concept of jihad. While the first two moments are being traced to the early and late colonial context of South Asia, the third is a brief analysis of the contemporary, or what is today known as the idea of ‘global jihad’.
Islamist extremism in Bangladesh emerged as a response to authoritarian populism and in the absen... more Islamist extremism in Bangladesh emerged as a response to authoritarian populism and in the absence of a credible anti-establishment left-wing political project to articulate an alternative agenda to the existing status quo. Islamist extremists represent a politics of revenge and hatred with no clear objective to uplift the socio-economic conditions and livelihood prospects of the people.
This paper is a review of the literature on postmodernism, cultural theory and globalization. It ... more This paper is a review of the literature on postmodernism, cultural theory and globalization. It attempts to theorize how postmodernised forms of cultural globalisation threaten folk cultural practices.
Review of "The Struggle for Equality: India’s Muslims and
Rethinking the UPA Experience" by Heewo... more Review of "The Struggle for Equality: India’s Muslims and Rethinking the UPA Experience" by Heewon Kim, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
This book evaluates the promise of human progress and secularism in grand political narratives of... more This book evaluates the promise of human progress and secularism in grand political narratives of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, comparing counter-narratives of South Asia within the context of a fast-changing twenty-first century. The book embraces a broad range of sources and theoretical approaches that include political philosophy, film, and ideological discourse analysis. In the twenty-first century, global inequality and significant growth of religious and majoritarian nationalisms have been appended with a protracted economic slowdown and recession in many countries. Examining what went wrong in terms of secularism and distributive justice in India, this book critiques the Euro-American visions of democracy, global capitalism, and their so-called universality. As an alternative, it proposes a progressive politics of radical democracy for the Indian people. Reconsidering alternatives to capitalism, western secularism and the radical possibilities of Islamism, Political Theory and South Asian Counter-Narratives will appeal to students and scholars of political theory, international relations, global history, and South Asian politics.
Table of Contents Part 1: Political Narratives 1. Introduction: Progress Contra Evolution 2. Elusiveness and Necessity of Justice: A Political Exposition 3. Avatar: A Political Cinema 4. Theology and Ideology: Political Reading of Islamic Discourses 5. The Promise of Alternative: Transforming Capitalism? 6. Public Protests and Ethics of Dissent in Our Times Part 2: South Asian Counter Narratives 7. Dilemma of Muslim Belonging in Modern South Asia 8. Majoritarian Nationalism in India 9. Rightwing Populism and Political Rhetoric in Contemporary India 10. Electoral Democracy and State Populism in India 11. Fortunes of Radicalism: Indian Maoists and the Parliamentary Left
Close to the turn of the century and almost 45 years after Independence, India opened its doors t... more Close to the turn of the century and almost 45 years after Independence, India opened its doors to free-market liberalization. Although meant as the promise to a better economic tomorrow, three decades later, many feel betrayed by the economic changes ushered in by this new financial era. Here is a book that probes whether India’s economic reforms have aided the development of Indian Muslims who have historically been denied the fruits of economic development.
Maidul Islam points out that in current political discourse, the ‘Muslim question’ in India is not articulated in terms of demands for equity. Instead, the political leadership camouflages real issues of backwardness, prejudice, and social exclusion with the rhetoric of identity and security. Historically informed, empirically grounded, and with robust analytical rigour, the book tries to explore connections between multiple forms of Muslim marginalization, the socio-economic realities facing the community, and the formation of modern Muslim identity in the country. At a time when post-liberalization economic policies have created economic inequality and joblessness for significant sections of the population including Muslims, the book proposes working towards a radical democratic deepening in India.
Table of contents List of Tables List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements
Prologue: Muslim Identity Formation in Neoliberal India
Chapter 1: The Muslim Question in the Neoliberal Regime
Chapter 2: Imag(in)ing Indian Muslims in Post-liberalization Hindi Cinema
Chapter 3: Indian Muslims and the Politics of Affirmative Action
Chapter 4: Political Articulations of Indian Muslims in an Era of Globalization
Epilogue: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics in India
This book focuses on Islamism as a political ideology by taking up the case of Jamaat-e-Islami in... more This book focuses on Islamism as a political ideology by taking up the case of Jamaat-e-Islami in contemporary India and Bangladesh. It probes at whether Islamism can articulate a politics of alternative in a world marked by capitalist globalization and neoliberal consensus; what happens to the promise and goal of Islamism in providing an alternative to capitalism after the failure of twentieth-century socialism; and if a religious ideology like Islamism can represent a politics of social transformation, or can it only limit itself as a peculiar politics of resistance and critique to neoliberal capitalism. This book addresses how, in a contemporary globalized world, Islamists construct an antagonistic frontier and try to mobilize people behind the political project of Islamism. It deals with the Islamist critique of neoliberal economic policies and ‘western cultural globalization’. Further, it analyzes why Islamists are opposed to such issues as atheism, blasphemy and sexual freedom. Finally, it traces the contemporary crisis of Islamist populism in providing an alternative to neoliberalism.
Contents List of Tables Acknowledgements
Introduction: Islamism(s) of Academics and Islamists Chapter 1: Islamism and Ideology: Philosophical Issues and Analytical Categories Chapter 2: Islamism in Neoliberal India Chapter 3: Ideological Articulations of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Chapter 4: Islamism in a Muslim Majority Context: The Case of Bangladesh Chapter 5: The Crisis of Islamist Populism of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Chapter 6: Islamism in Contemporary India and Bangladesh: Comparative Overview of the Politics of Alternative
This article examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is atta... more This article examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is attached to official policies of the regime, creating fear and hopelessness within sections of the population. In this study, five sets of political activities of the government are evaluated. First, cultural authoritarianism became apparent with complicity toward “cow vigilantism,” slapping sedition charges against those showing political dissent, banning the history books of selected progressives, and stereotyping sections of the left and liberals as antinationals. Second, the demonetization policy was implemented without adequately following the economic protocols of the state. Third, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill indicates the thwarting of democratic and federalist ideas. Fourth, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam demonstrate the communal-fascist worldview of the regime in profiling population groups. Finally, the sloppy handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new Information Technology rules show the government's callous approach toward science and privacy. By analyzing such political activities, the article points out that majoritarian religious nationalism, coupled with authoritarianism, has been the ideological expression of the Modi regime, coexisting with both state surveillance and electoral democracy.
This article examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is atta... more This article examines the Narendra Modi regime in India. Often acerbic political rhetoric is attached to official policies of the regime, creating fear and hopelessness within sections of the population. In this study, five sets of political activities of the government are evaluated. First, cultural authoritarianism became apparent with complicity toward “cow vigilantism,” slapping sedition charges against those showing political dissent, banning the history books of selected progressives, and stereotyping sections of the left and liberals as antinationals. Second, the demonetization policy was implemented without adequately following the economic protocols of the state. Third, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill indicates the thwarting of democratic and federalist ideas. Fourth, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam demonstrate the communal-fascist worldview of the regime in profiling population groups. Finally, the sloppy handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new Information Technology rules show the government's callous approach toward science and privacy. By analyzing such political activities, the article points out that majoritarian religious nationalism, coupled with authoritarianism, has been the ideological expression of the Modi regime, coexisting with both state surveillance and electoral democracy.
Seminar (November 2022: The Past as Present), 2022
It is often alleged that Hindi cinema has misrepresented the past. Indian history has been depict... more It is often alleged that Hindi cinema has misrepresented the past. Indian history has been depicted with popular myths and stating wrong historical facts in several Bollywood movies in the recent past. In particular, the depiction of the Sultanate period, the Mughal period and its aftermath in various films have been notorious. In contrast, this paper will highlight The Tashkent Files (2019), a film that deals with a more recent episode of contemporary Indian history during the decolonial decade of the 1960s. The film focuses on the death of India's second Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, in Tashkent. The movie dabbles with conspiracy theory while making direct accusations of a planned murder by international secret agencies and insiders of the Congress party that would have eventually benefited Indira Gandhi to become the next prime minister following the death of Shastri.
An interview on the contemporary socio-economic and political situation of Indian Muslims after t... more An interview on the contemporary socio-economic and political situation of Indian Muslims after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
On 22nd August 2017, the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment, terming the pronou... more On 22nd August 2017, the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment, terming the pronouncement of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat or heretical and irregular mode of divorce) as ‘unconstitutional’ by a 3:2 majority vote in a five-judge bench. In this respect, this paper will analyse the legal and the theological discourse that has been part and parcel of the public debates on instant triple talaq and how the judicial pronouncement has created a condition for the possibility of reforming the Muslim Personal Law in India. In doing so it will foreground a precedence of deterrence to instant divorce in Islamic history and Islamic theological discourses.
Several scholars within the two separate disciplines of political economy and political philosoph... more Several scholars within the two separate disciplines of political economy and political philosophy in the academy have so far been interested in thinking of a social structure beyond capitalism or have been interested in constructing an alternative system to capitalism. This paper will follow the legacy of imagining an alternative to capitalism in the twenty-first century by evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the extant scholarship on alternatives to capitalism with particular reference to the theory and practice of boycott movements and Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS). In effect, it will chart out the possibilities of an alternative by analysing the inherent problems of contemporary capitalism in the twenty-first century.
The paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the communists of West Bengal in fulfilling t... more The paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the communists of West Bengal in fulfilling the secular promises enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
The questions of antagonism, hegemony and imperialism are missing in Amartya Sen’s treatise, "The... more The questions of antagonism, hegemony and imperialism are missing in Amartya Sen’s treatise, "The Idea of Justice". One cannot comprehensively understand the notions of justice and injustice without addressing these core issues.
This chapter looks at an essential feature of West Bengal politics, which is the limited influenc... more This chapter looks at an essential feature of West Bengal politics, which is the limited influence of big national parties (the Congress and the BJP) in the state. Further, the chapter asks whether there is any possibility of increasing the support of those parties among the electorate of West Bengal especially after 2014 parliament and 2016 assembly elections. It attempts to answer the question mentioned above by analysing the broad political trends in the state in the last four decades.
The paper deals with three key moments in the historical evolution of the concept of jihad. While... more The paper deals with three key moments in the historical evolution of the concept of jihad. While the first two moments are being traced to the early and late colonial context of South Asia, the third is a brief analysis of the contemporary, or what is today known as the idea of ‘global jihad’.
Islamist extremism in Bangladesh emerged as a response to authoritarian populism and in the absen... more Islamist extremism in Bangladesh emerged as a response to authoritarian populism and in the absence of a credible anti-establishment left-wing political project to articulate an alternative agenda to the existing status quo. Islamist extremists represent a politics of revenge and hatred with no clear objective to uplift the socio-economic conditions and livelihood prospects of the people.
This paper is a review of the literature on postmodernism, cultural theory and globalization. It ... more This paper is a review of the literature on postmodernism, cultural theory and globalization. It attempts to theorize how postmodernised forms of cultural globalisation threaten folk cultural practices.
Review of "The Struggle for Equality: India’s Muslims and
Rethinking the UPA Experience" by Heewo... more Review of "The Struggle for Equality: India’s Muslims and Rethinking the UPA Experience" by Heewon Kim, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
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Books by Maidul Islam
The book embraces a broad range of sources and theoretical approaches that include political philosophy, film, and ideological discourse analysis. In the twenty-first century, global inequality and significant growth of religious and majoritarian nationalisms have been appended with a protracted economic slowdown and recession in many countries. Examining what went wrong in terms of secularism and distributive justice in India, this book critiques the Euro-American visions of democracy, global capitalism, and their so-called universality. As an alternative, it proposes a progressive politics of radical democracy for the Indian people.
Reconsidering alternatives to capitalism, western secularism and the radical possibilities of Islamism, Political Theory and South Asian Counter-Narratives will appeal to students and scholars of political theory, international relations, global history, and South Asian politics.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Political Narratives 1. Introduction: Progress Contra Evolution 2. Elusiveness and Necessity of Justice: A Political Exposition 3. Avatar: A Political Cinema 4. Theology and Ideology: Political Reading of Islamic Discourses 5. The Promise of Alternative: Transforming Capitalism? 6. Public Protests and Ethics of Dissent in Our Times Part 2: South Asian Counter Narratives 7. Dilemma of Muslim Belonging in Modern South Asia 8. Majoritarian Nationalism in India 9. Rightwing Populism and Political Rhetoric in Contemporary India 10. Electoral Democracy and State Populism in India 11. Fortunes of Radicalism: Indian Maoists and the Parliamentary Left
Maidul Islam points out that in current political discourse, the ‘Muslim question’ in India is not articulated in terms of demands for equity. Instead, the political leadership camouflages real issues of backwardness, prejudice, and social exclusion with the rhetoric of identity and security. Historically informed, empirically grounded, and with robust analytical rigour, the book tries to explore connections between multiple forms of Muslim marginalization, the socio-economic realities facing the community, and the formation of modern Muslim identity in the country. At a time when post-liberalization economic policies have created economic inequality and joblessness for significant sections of the population including Muslims, the book proposes working towards a radical democratic deepening in India.
Table of contents
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Prologue: Muslim Identity Formation in Neoliberal India
Chapter 1: The Muslim Question in the Neoliberal Regime
Chapter 2: Imag(in)ing Indian Muslims in Post-liberalization Hindi Cinema
Chapter 3: Indian Muslims and the Politics of Affirmative Action
Chapter 4: Political Articulations of Indian Muslims in an Era of Globalization
Epilogue: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics in India
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Contents
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Islamism(s) of Academics and Islamists
Chapter 1: Islamism and Ideology: Philosophical Issues and Analytical Categories
Chapter 2: Islamism in Neoliberal India
Chapter 3: Ideological Articulations of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind
Chapter 4: Islamism in a Muslim Majority Context: The Case of Bangladesh
Chapter 5: The Crisis of Islamist Populism of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Chapter 6: Islamism in Contemporary India and Bangladesh: Comparative Overview of the Politics of Alternative
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Papers by Maidul Islam
Book Reviews by Maidul Islam
Rethinking the UPA Experience" by Heewon Kim,
Cambridge University Press, 2019.
The book embraces a broad range of sources and theoretical approaches that include political philosophy, film, and ideological discourse analysis. In the twenty-first century, global inequality and significant growth of religious and majoritarian nationalisms have been appended with a protracted economic slowdown and recession in many countries. Examining what went wrong in terms of secularism and distributive justice in India, this book critiques the Euro-American visions of democracy, global capitalism, and their so-called universality. As an alternative, it proposes a progressive politics of radical democracy for the Indian people.
Reconsidering alternatives to capitalism, western secularism and the radical possibilities of Islamism, Political Theory and South Asian Counter-Narratives will appeal to students and scholars of political theory, international relations, global history, and South Asian politics.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Political Narratives 1. Introduction: Progress Contra Evolution 2. Elusiveness and Necessity of Justice: A Political Exposition 3. Avatar: A Political Cinema 4. Theology and Ideology: Political Reading of Islamic Discourses 5. The Promise of Alternative: Transforming Capitalism? 6. Public Protests and Ethics of Dissent in Our Times Part 2: South Asian Counter Narratives 7. Dilemma of Muslim Belonging in Modern South Asia 8. Majoritarian Nationalism in India 9. Rightwing Populism and Political Rhetoric in Contemporary India 10. Electoral Democracy and State Populism in India 11. Fortunes of Radicalism: Indian Maoists and the Parliamentary Left
Maidul Islam points out that in current political discourse, the ‘Muslim question’ in India is not articulated in terms of demands for equity. Instead, the political leadership camouflages real issues of backwardness, prejudice, and social exclusion with the rhetoric of identity and security. Historically informed, empirically grounded, and with robust analytical rigour, the book tries to explore connections between multiple forms of Muslim marginalization, the socio-economic realities facing the community, and the formation of modern Muslim identity in the country. At a time when post-liberalization economic policies have created economic inequality and joblessness for significant sections of the population including Muslims, the book proposes working towards a radical democratic deepening in India.
Table of contents
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Prologue: Muslim Identity Formation in Neoliberal India
Chapter 1: The Muslim Question in the Neoliberal Regime
Chapter 2: Imag(in)ing Indian Muslims in Post-liberalization Hindi Cinema
Chapter 3: Indian Muslims and the Politics of Affirmative Action
Chapter 4: Political Articulations of Indian Muslims in an Era of Globalization
Epilogue: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics in India
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Contents
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Islamism(s) of Academics and Islamists
Chapter 1: Islamism and Ideology: Philosophical Issues and Analytical Categories
Chapter 2: Islamism in Neoliberal India
Chapter 3: Ideological Articulations of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind
Chapter 4: Islamism in a Muslim Majority Context: The Case of Bangladesh
Chapter 5: The Crisis of Islamist Populism of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Chapter 6: Islamism in Contemporary India and Bangladesh: Comparative Overview of the Politics of Alternative
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Rethinking the UPA Experience" by Heewon Kim,
Cambridge University Press, 2019.