I have done my graduation on Political Science from Presidency University, Kolkata. I take keen interest in Urban Studies, Political theory and Political Economy and Human Ecology. I seek to undertake research on the politics of spatial transformation and the growth of new Towns in Postcolonial spaces Phone: +918777089577 Address: 29/4 Roynagar Park, Naskarpara, Bansdroni, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
The discipline of political science studies the... more The discipline of political science studies the state as its central institution. Starting from the classical Greeks (Plato and Aristotle) to the 21st century, all major theories of this discipline are centred on this institute. Among the many discourses provided to a current student of political science the Marxist tradition of studying the state is one of the most popular approaches. As Poulantzas puts it “since Max Weber, all political theory has constituted either a dialogue with Marxism or an attack on it” (Poulantzas 1981: 11). This paper tries to conceptualise the state under post-colonial capitalism with reference to the concept of relative autonomy formulated by Nicos Poulantzas. In the first section we discuss the alternate understandings about the state under mainstream Marxism and then highlight the key arguments of Nicos Poulantzas about the relative autonomy of states from the capitalist class under advanced capitalism. Then we seek to find out whether states in post-colonial societies enjoy any degree of commonality with such an argument or not and the probable reasons behind such similarities if any. We seek to do this through a case study of the class character and political functioning of the post-colonial Indian state. In order to do so we have taken up a sectorial analysis of the agricultural and industrial policy of the post-colonial Indian state from 1947-2000 and tried to locate the major shifts in these policies. After doing so I have tried to interpret these shifts theoretically and figuratively using the Neo-Gramscian and Neo-Marxist approaches and then arrive at a conclusion as to which approach to study the post-colonial Indian state can better explain the policies and administrative logic of the state.
There has been extensive work on the role played by the middle class in cases of structural econo... more There has been extensive work on the role played by the middle class in cases of structural economic transformation in many countries like India. It is mostly assumed that the 'new middle class', mostly employed in the service sector is a hegemonic entity with very little internal differentiation and hence it responds uniformly to the policies of liberalization and reform.1 However on the contrary scholars have extensively argued that there are considerable differentiations in the new middle class of India, and the politics of liberalization has involved a stronger contestation over? the state by various sections of these classes?, who have been beneficiaries of open markets and others who have missed out. They analytical category of consumer citizenship2 has been extremely beneficial to understand how such a politics of inclusion and exclusion has simultaneously taken place in contemporary politics of economic reform (not very clear). In this research, I intend to understand the political and cultural imaginaries of the middle class who are the product of a long standing? discourse of consumer citizenship by studying how the politics of urban space unfolds in a postcolonial city, with two contending sections, people who are marginalized due to the rise of the idea of consumer
In this analysis I have taken up the first four paragraphs of the communist manifesto as my refer... more In this analysis I have taken up the first four paragraphs of the communist manifesto as my reference point at the backdrop of which the entire analysis is placed. In order to analyse the evolution of capitalism and whether and how far it matches with the predictions of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels expressed in the communist manifesto we need to at first take a look at what exactly it states. In the first section of this answer I will outline the overlaps between the Marxian prediction and the evolution of capitalism and in the second section I will analyse the points of departure between the two. In the first paragraph under consideration from the manifesto Marx and Engels clearly state that the development and spread of the capitalist mode of production all across the globe simultaneously took place along with the waves of colonialism all across the world. This was facilitated by the progress in science and technology during the 19 th century. They have established a chain reaction between capitalism and the scientific developments which continues from time to time leading to the expansion of both. History stands testimony to the fact that this is indeed the case. We have seen that at an aggregate level capitalism started from Europe and has spread and engulfed the entire world as by the end of the 20 th century every country has been incorporated into the capitalist mode of production with some barring exceptions like North Korea. Even multinational states like the earstwhile USSR and Yugoslavia which were glaring examples of successful socialist states have disintegrated and integrated themselves into the global capitalist system. At the macro level the analysis of Marx and Engels seems to be true to the most possible extent when they say "the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into background every class handed down from the Middle Ages" In the next paragraph the authors state that the bourgeoisie is a product of "a series of revolutions in the modes of productions and of exchange" and that historically they have played a most "revolutionary part". The spread of capitalism at an aggregate manifested through globalisation more than substantiates the predictions of Marx and Engels.
Constitutionally speaking India has been referred to as a federation with strong centralizing ten... more Constitutionally speaking India has been referred to as a federation with strong centralizing tendencies, a quasi-federation, or a federal set up with a unitary bias by various scholars. However, movements for regional autonomy and power sharing have been a recurring theme in the history of the Indian state. This paper seeks to go beyond formal understandings of power sharing, federalism etc. and understand the structural and social roots of such a recurring theme in India's body polity. I briefly argue that in all class divided countries, such movements can be better understood in relation with the forms and logic of capital in the respective country. We also argue that the logics of capital have detrimental consequences for the life chances of individual citizens which is often channelized in the form of identity politics leading to regional movements along ethnic and linguistic lines. In the concluding section I argue that such movements can be contained and democratically managed if there is considerable amount of social pluralism in such movements demanding regional autonomy based on various forms of social identity. Section 1 Debates about the nature of Indian federalism have been a prominent trend on the academic field of political science for quite some time now. However, if the centralizing trends of the Indian state is studied from a different perspective, it can be understood that such a logic of centralization is inherent in the very nature of capitalist development that has been followed by the Indian ruling class.1 Scholars have argued that the Indian ruling class had initially practiced a strategy of planned economic management in order to prepare the Indian bourgeoisie for global competition. However, The Indian bourgeoisie was unable to do such a structural transformation 1
The discipline of political science studies the... more The discipline of political science studies the state as its central institution. Starting from the classical Greeks (Plato and Aristotle) to the 21st century, all major theories of this discipline are centred on this institute. Among the many discourses provided to a current student of political science the Marxist tradition of studying the state is one of the most popular approaches. As Poulantzas puts it “since Max Weber, all political theory has constituted either a dialogue with Marxism or an attack on it” (Poulantzas 1981: 11). This paper tries to conceptualise the state under post-colonial capitalism with reference to the concept of relative autonomy formulated by Nicos Poulantzas. In the first section we discuss the alternate understandings about the state under mainstream Marxism and then highlight the key arguments of Nicos Poulantzas about the relative autonomy of states from the capitalist class under advanced capitalism. Then we seek to find out whether states in post-colonial societies enjoy any degree of commonality with such an argument or not and the probable reasons behind such similarities if any. We seek to do this through a case study of the class character and political functioning of the post-colonial Indian state. In order to do so we have taken up a sectorial analysis of the agricultural and industrial policy of the post-colonial Indian state from 1947-2000 and tried to locate the major shifts in these policies. After doing so I have tried to interpret these shifts theoretically and figuratively using the Neo-Gramscian and Neo-Marxist approaches and then arrive at a conclusion as to which approach to study the post-colonial Indian state can better explain the policies and administrative logic of the state.
There has been extensive work on the role played by the middle class in cases of structural econo... more There has been extensive work on the role played by the middle class in cases of structural economic transformation in many countries like India. It is mostly assumed that the 'new middle class', mostly employed in the service sector is a hegemonic entity with very little internal differentiation and hence it responds uniformly to the policies of liberalization and reform.1 However on the contrary scholars have extensively argued that there are considerable differentiations in the new middle class of India, and the politics of liberalization has involved a stronger contestation over? the state by various sections of these classes?, who have been beneficiaries of open markets and others who have missed out. They analytical category of consumer citizenship2 has been extremely beneficial to understand how such a politics of inclusion and exclusion has simultaneously taken place in contemporary politics of economic reform (not very clear). In this research, I intend to understand the political and cultural imaginaries of the middle class who are the product of a long standing? discourse of consumer citizenship by studying how the politics of urban space unfolds in a postcolonial city, with two contending sections, people who are marginalized due to the rise of the idea of consumer
In this analysis I have taken up the first four paragraphs of the communist manifesto as my refer... more In this analysis I have taken up the first four paragraphs of the communist manifesto as my reference point at the backdrop of which the entire analysis is placed. In order to analyse the evolution of capitalism and whether and how far it matches with the predictions of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels expressed in the communist manifesto we need to at first take a look at what exactly it states. In the first section of this answer I will outline the overlaps between the Marxian prediction and the evolution of capitalism and in the second section I will analyse the points of departure between the two. In the first paragraph under consideration from the manifesto Marx and Engels clearly state that the development and spread of the capitalist mode of production all across the globe simultaneously took place along with the waves of colonialism all across the world. This was facilitated by the progress in science and technology during the 19 th century. They have established a chain reaction between capitalism and the scientific developments which continues from time to time leading to the expansion of both. History stands testimony to the fact that this is indeed the case. We have seen that at an aggregate level capitalism started from Europe and has spread and engulfed the entire world as by the end of the 20 th century every country has been incorporated into the capitalist mode of production with some barring exceptions like North Korea. Even multinational states like the earstwhile USSR and Yugoslavia which were glaring examples of successful socialist states have disintegrated and integrated themselves into the global capitalist system. At the macro level the analysis of Marx and Engels seems to be true to the most possible extent when they say "the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into background every class handed down from the Middle Ages" In the next paragraph the authors state that the bourgeoisie is a product of "a series of revolutions in the modes of productions and of exchange" and that historically they have played a most "revolutionary part". The spread of capitalism at an aggregate manifested through globalisation more than substantiates the predictions of Marx and Engels.
Constitutionally speaking India has been referred to as a federation with strong centralizing ten... more Constitutionally speaking India has been referred to as a federation with strong centralizing tendencies, a quasi-federation, or a federal set up with a unitary bias by various scholars. However, movements for regional autonomy and power sharing have been a recurring theme in the history of the Indian state. This paper seeks to go beyond formal understandings of power sharing, federalism etc. and understand the structural and social roots of such a recurring theme in India's body polity. I briefly argue that in all class divided countries, such movements can be better understood in relation with the forms and logic of capital in the respective country. We also argue that the logics of capital have detrimental consequences for the life chances of individual citizens which is often channelized in the form of identity politics leading to regional movements along ethnic and linguistic lines. In the concluding section I argue that such movements can be contained and democratically managed if there is considerable amount of social pluralism in such movements demanding regional autonomy based on various forms of social identity. Section 1 Debates about the nature of Indian federalism have been a prominent trend on the academic field of political science for quite some time now. However, if the centralizing trends of the Indian state is studied from a different perspective, it can be understood that such a logic of centralization is inherent in the very nature of capitalist development that has been followed by the Indian ruling class.1 Scholars have argued that the Indian ruling class had initially practiced a strategy of planned economic management in order to prepare the Indian bourgeoisie for global competition. However, The Indian bourgeoisie was unable to do such a structural transformation 1
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Papers by Atriya Dey
This paper tries to conceptualise the state under post-colonial capitalism with reference to the concept of relative autonomy formulated by Nicos Poulantzas. In the first section we discuss the alternate understandings about the state under mainstream Marxism and then highlight the key arguments of Nicos Poulantzas about the relative autonomy of states from the capitalist class under advanced capitalism. Then we seek to find out whether states in post-colonial societies enjoy any degree of commonality with such an argument or not and the probable reasons behind such similarities if any. We seek to do this through a case study of the class character and political functioning of the post-colonial Indian state. In order to do so we have taken up a sectorial analysis of the agricultural and industrial policy of the post-colonial Indian state from 1947-2000 and tried to locate the major shifts in these policies. After doing so I have tried to interpret these shifts theoretically and figuratively using the Neo-Gramscian and Neo-Marxist approaches and then arrive at a conclusion as to which approach to study the post-colonial Indian state can better explain the policies and administrative logic of the state.
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This paper tries to conceptualise the state under post-colonial capitalism with reference to the concept of relative autonomy formulated by Nicos Poulantzas. In the first section we discuss the alternate understandings about the state under mainstream Marxism and then highlight the key arguments of Nicos Poulantzas about the relative autonomy of states from the capitalist class under advanced capitalism. Then we seek to find out whether states in post-colonial societies enjoy any degree of commonality with such an argument or not and the probable reasons behind such similarities if any. We seek to do this through a case study of the class character and political functioning of the post-colonial Indian state. In order to do so we have taken up a sectorial analysis of the agricultural and industrial policy of the post-colonial Indian state from 1947-2000 and tried to locate the major shifts in these policies. After doing so I have tried to interpret these shifts theoretically and figuratively using the Neo-Gramscian and Neo-Marxist approaches and then arrive at a conclusion as to which approach to study the post-colonial Indian state can better explain the policies and administrative logic of the state.