Book Review- 4: Who wants democracy?- Democracy as weapon of the weak

Book/Film Review- 4

Javeed Alam

Who Wants Democracy

Orient Blackswan, Rs- 325/-

      Javeed Alam, an eminent professor, writes this book ‘Who Wants Democracy’ in 2004 under the series—Tracts for the Times—of publisher Orient Blackswan to examine the rapid changes, in the internal structure of Indian democracy.

     Tracts for the times attempts to provide a meaningful information, critical perspective, and theoretical reflections on various themes written by eminent social scientists, journalists, lawyers and social activists, that is edited by S. Gopal, Romila Thapar and Neeladri Bhattacharya.

Freedom is a covenant between the elite and the masses

    The book starts with the definition of modernity and later he theorizes the democratising modernity. In his opinion, the inauguration of democracy in India was the result of a covenant between the elite, the middle class and the intelligentsia, on the one side and the ordinary people in their great diversity, with all their problems, on the other.   

    He argues that initially, the ordinary people had great power of mobilisation against exploitation, but in a short period, they went backward from the Pabna and Deccan revolts to Fakir-Sanyasi insurrections.

    This notion is extremely acclaimed in the centre-left intelligentsia and the liberal circle but denied by the people who are not part of this club and appreciate the Fakir-Sanyasi rebels as a revival of cultural nationalism.

Mandal Reward: Benefiting Democracy

   The implementation of Mandal commission’s recommendation impacted the internal function and the structure of Indian Democracy. Alam categorized these in several points—‘leaders who occupy positions in democratic institutions are lack in principles and prone to shift loyalty’ and ‘a sharp increase in social disharmony’ and therefore caste conflicts became the bane of politics with figures like Laloo Yadav, Mulayam Singh and Mayawati, are two of them.

    He portrayed the ‘Public Confidence’ as a source of democracy and argues that Indian governments have solved none of the problems- work, food, shelter, health etc, even after the public have not lost confidence ever and always believe in democratic processes and vote with enjoy to maintain the sustainability of Indian Democracy because democracy is a weapon of the weak.

Making of Indian nation and role of civil society

    Explaining the making of the Indian nation, Alam observes that the dominant secular Nehruvian model is now threatened by the communal politics and regional assertion. The monolithic conception of nation derived either from the secular or from the Hindutva has been rejected by the linguistic cultural regions and multiple ways being Indian is taking shape over a period of time.

   The elites who are educated and capable of exercising their rights constitute the core members of the civil society and set the rule for the functioning of democracy in India without the support of a very large part of the civil society.

   Despite of some weaknesses, the book is readable for understanding a different point of view on Indian Democracy. The rise of new middle class, role of civil society, the elite-masses relationship and a deep analysis of Hindutva are the themes of the book that Javeed Alam describes.

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Imagined Community- A guide to nationalism

Book/Film Review- 3

Imagined Community

By- Benedict Anderson

Rawat Publications, Rs- 799/.

     ‘Imagined Community’, a book on the origins and spread of nationalism; written by Benedict Anderson- a prominent professor of International Studies Emeritus at Cornell University, is a highly-researched-document in the field of International Relation literature. 

       This book is appreciated in scholastic manner and it finds its space on top among academicians, journalists and the students of world affairs to sort out the confusions on nationalism. The Guardian writes this book is ‘sparkling, readable, and densely packed.’ And, the Academic Library Book Review praises as a book to owned, and read, and re-read and treasured.

Imagined Community book cover (R. Suresh Bhardwaj Picture)

      Although I have been a student of political science, and enjoy a little knowledge of international relations but I am not perfect guy to jot down the review of this book because I carry no expertise of the subject and any research experience in this field. I am writing this piece only to point out the contents of this book.

    The book unfolds the answer of the question ‘what makes people live and die for nations, as well as hate and kill in their name?’ Benedict Anderson argues that the nation is a new, modern phenomenon. The 17th and 18th century witnessed the demise of previous forms of political bodies that were shaped by a sacred language and dynastic power. It is through the emergence of print-capitalism—the technological, mass production of newspapers and the novel and the spread of vernacular print languages—that individuals could think of themselves and relate to others in different ways.

     His second contribution is the historical argument regarding the models of nations and nationalisms. The earliest nations and nationalist movements emerged in ‘creole communities’—descendants of white European settlers in the North and South Americas.

    The third of his contribution is official nationalism and imperialism, seen in Russia, Japan, Thailand, England and Hungary. This form of nationalism is a defensive, conservative response by monarchs to popular and linguistic nationalists.

   The fourth model of nationalism develops out of the colonial context and institutions of education, bureaucracy, and movement in Asia and Africa by the administrative, educated, bilingual intelligentsia.

    Anderson conceptualizes many long-lasting terms like Russification, French Revolution as concept of revolution, Bolshevik revolutionary model, Nationalisms from the New World and Print-capitalism.

    Partha Chatterjee as a main contender, who argues that print capitalism is a simplistic and linear argument and does not consider asymmetrical power relations of colonial context. The feminist criticises Anderson’s argument as a male phenomenon, understanding fraternity eliding gender, class and race. For more, readers should go through the book.

    A good book on nationalism to read, but not for general reading!