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English
Genre (authority = marcgt)
theses
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Anthropology
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Globalization--India--West Bengal
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Neoliberalism--India--West Bengal
Subject (authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
West Bengal (India)--Economic conditions
Subject (authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
West Bengal (India)--Social conditions
Subject (authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
West Bengal (India)--Politics and government
Abstract
Why do regimes that have been traditionally and ideologically opposed to liberal policies adopt neoliberal policies of industrialization? Why do these regimes not abandon courting the big private investors to set up industries, in spite of popular protests in the villages against acquisition of land for these industries? This dissertation tries to answer the above questions with respect to recent developments in the Indian province of West Bengal, which has been ruled by a democratically elected Marxist government for the last thirty years. These questions have been addressed in the context of China and other Asian economies, which are ruled by authoritarian regimes. The significance of looking at the West Bengal case is that it has a democratically elected regime with a considerable populist credential, especially in terms of undertaking redistributive land reforms in the villages. Thus external pressures of a global and national economy and elitist urge to industrialize are important but inadequate explanations for a parliamentary Marxist regime's adoption of neoliberal industrialization policies. Hence, this dissertation explores citizenship and moral claims on the state based on the self-understanding of the villagers formed within a social field structured as much by democracy, development and land reforms as by transnational influences and forces. I argue that the government’s drive for industrialization and the protests against land acquisition have to be understood within the context of this complex field of social relations and distinctions in the villages that crucially depend upon both land and non-farm employment. By looking at this social field, the dissertation complicates the images of protests and "peasants" which, viewed from afar, appear to be anti-neoliberal, anti-developmental, anti-industrial or anti-globalization. Therefore, this dissertation is also a critical reflection on the "distance" that pervades the urban activists' and state's perceptions and representation of the "rural" and the "peasant".
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD
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Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
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Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Majumder
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Sarasij
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2009-10-01 01:30:08
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Sarasij Majumder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
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I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
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2011-05-23
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Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after May 23, 2016.