Neoliberalism and the Transforming Left in India: A contradictory manifesto

Description

West Bengal has often been perceived as somewhat of an aberration in the wider context of a rather chaotic Indian democracy, as the Left Front (spearheaded by the Communist Party of India-Marxist, CPIM) demonstrated a rare instance of political stability, decisively winning seven consecutive democratic elections from 1977 to 2006. Its development record has also been substantial, with a focus on land reforms, the panchayati-raj institution, and an agriculture centric development agenda. This book presents a reappraisal of the political economic history of the CPIM/Left Front regime against the backdrop of the Indian reform experience. It examines two distinct areas: the conditions that necessitated the regime to engineer a transition from an erstwhile agricultural-based growth model to a more pro-market economic agenda post-1991, and the political strategy employed to manage such a transition, attract private capital and at the same time sustain the regime’s traditional rhetoric and partisan character. In order to develop a more textured understanding of the recent political developments in West Bengal, the author applies a historically nuanced and inductive political-economic analysis, which draws on published materials, and primary material such as government documents and interviews (with bureaucrats, political activists, members of the intelligentsia and ministers). A valuable contribution to the ongoing debate in the literature on the drifts underway with the Indian Left and India’s economic transformation post-1990s, this book will be of interest to academics in the field of Political Science, Government, Political Economy and South Asian Studies. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of tables and figure Acknowledgements Abbreviations Prologue 1 The politics of economic transition: surprises, perspectives and the Indian experience 2 From bhadraloks to party-society: trends in Bengali Left politics 3 The production and legitimisation of hegemony: political rationale of the CPIM 4 Reforming by compulsion? Fiscal, federal and ideological choices 5 The politics of transition: contradictions, negotiation and consensus 6 Land, consent and violence: ‘implosion’ of the shadow-state 7 Conclusion Appendices Appendix 1 Electoral record of the CPI and the CPIM, 1952–1969 Appendix 2 Electoral record of the CPI and the CPIM, 1971–1977 Appendix 3 West Bengal panchayat election results, 1978 Appendix 4 Assembly election results in West Bengal, 1977–2011 Bibliography Index