Struggle Against the State: Social Network and Protest Mobilization in India

by Ashok Swain

Overview

Many developing countries pursue policies of rapid industrialization in order to achieve faster economic growth. Some policies cause displacement forcing many individuals to take up a fight against the state. Interestingly some of these dissenting individuals are more successful in organizing their protests than others. In this book, Ashok Swain demonstrates how displaced people mobilize to protest with the help of their social networks. Studying protests against large industrial and development projects, Swain compares the mobilization process between a traditionally protest rich and a protest poor region in India to explain how social network structures are a key component to understand this variation. He reveals how improved mobilization capability coincides with their evolving social network structure thanks to recent exposure to external actors like religious missionaries and radical left activists. The in-depth examination of the existing literature on social mobilization and extensive fieldwork conducted in India make this book a well-organized and useful resource to analyze protest mobilization in developing regions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781409408673
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/09/2010
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.20(h) x 17.00(d)

About the Author

Ashok Swain, Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala Centre for Sustainable Development, Uppsala University, Sweden

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface; Introduction; development and displacement: struggle for survival; India, its development, population displacements and protests; Kerala: the state of successful protest mobilization; Protest mobilization with regional variation: case of Orissa; Maoists and missionaries: changing social network structure for successful protest mobilization; Conclusion: protests in Indian democracy: its emerging economy and changing social structure; Bibliography; Index.