Democracy and the politics of social citizenship in India
| dc.contributor.author | Varughese, Anil Mathew | |
| dc.contributor.department | Graduate Department of Political Science, University of Toronto | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2013-08-19T14:35:57Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2013-08-19T14:35:57Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 2013 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2013 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Why do some pro-poor democracies in global South enact generous and universal social policies accompanied by empowering outcomes while others, similar in many ways, do not? If lower-class integration and programmatic commitment steers policy outcomes to be more egalitarian, what explains the variance in redistributive commitment within the cluster of radical democracies? These questions are examined in the context of two celebrated cases of pro-poor reform in the developing world: the Indian states of Kerala and West Bengal. Despite a host of similar background conditions (democratic framework, programmatic political parties, strong labor unions, and a high degree of subordinate-class integration), the cases display considerable variation in their redistributive commitment. Using the comparative-historical method, this dissertation seeks to explain the variance. It argues that the welfare divergences of Kerala and West Bengal are a function of their divergent modes of lower-class integration. In Kerala, a radical-mobilizational mode of lower-class integration has organized the poorer sections of the working classes—landless laborers and informal sector workers—in autonomous class organizations. This has enabled them to vigorously assert their interests within the working-class movement and harness state power to advance their interests through a wide range of legislative protections and statutory entitlements. In contrast, a clientelist-corporatist mode of lower-class integration in West Bengal relies on dependent mobilization of the poorer sections, without effective self-representing class organizations and without the strategic capacity to pursue class action independent of middle-class collaborators. These distinct modes of lower-class integration engender qualitatively different state-poor relationships and, in turn, divergent visions of social citizenship. The origins of these distinct modes are then traced to their historical and peculiar patterns of class formation, class struggle, and class compromise. This dissertation provides nuance to the welfare-state literature by proposing analytical differentiation within a subset of radical democracies and then by specifying the conditions under which lower-class power and state power can be harnessed to create more redistributive and empowering social outcomes in the global South. It also makes a contribution in linking agrarian labor movements to the nature of welfare regimes and more broadly to social citizenship. | en |
| dc.description.degree | Doctor of Philosophy | |
| dc.format | Text | en |
| dc.format.extent | 1 digital file (341 p.) | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10625/51524 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Graduate Department of Political Science, University of Toronto | en |
| dc.subject | INDIA | en |
| dc.subject | PRO-POOR POLICY | en |
| dc.subject | SOCIAL JUSTICE | en |
| dc.subject | KERALA | en |
| dc.subject | WEST BENGAL | en |
| dc.subject | REDISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE | en |
| dc.subject | WELFARE STATE | en |
| dc.title | Democracy and the politics of social citizenship in India | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
| idrc.copyright.holder | Anil Mathew Varughese | |
| idrc.dspace.access | IDRC Only | en |
| idrc.noaccess | Due to copyright restrictions the full text of this research output is not available in the IDRC Digital Library or by request from the IDRC Library. / Compte tenu des restrictions relatives au droit d'auteur, le texte intégral de cet extrant de recherche n'est pas accessible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI, et il n'est pas possible d'en faire la demande à la Bibliothéque du CRDI. | en |
| idrc.project.componentnumber | 102667041 | |
| idrc.project.number | 102667 | |
| idrc.project.title | IDRC Corporate Awards 2004-2005 | en |
| idrc.rims.adhocgroup | IDRC SUPPORTED | en |