The Politics of Autonomy: Indian Experiences

Front Cover
Ranabir Samaddar
SAGE Publications, 2005 - Business & Economics - 312 pages

The purpose of this critical political inquiry is to look into the conditions and dimensions of autonomy, their historical nature, and their political significance in terms of enriching democracy. The volume catalogues the resistance to the power of the state-the demand for autonomy in other words-that is encountered among various sections of society such as women, ethnic groups, and classes. In particular, the issues discussed are: women s autonomy; peace accords; the nature of federalism in the Indian constitution; autonomy and international law; resources for autonomy.

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About the author (2005)

Ranabir Samaddar is the Director of the Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata, and belongs to the school of critical thinking. He has worked extensively on issues of justice and rights in the context of conflicts in South Asia. Samaddar’s particular researches have spread over a wide area comprising migration and refugee studies, the theory and practices of dialogue, nationalism and postcolonial statehood in South Asia, and new regimes of technological restructuring and labour control. His recent political writings The Emergence of the Political Subject (2009) and The Nation Form (2012) have signalled a new turn in critical postcolonial thinking and have challenged some of the prevailing accounts of the birth of nationalism and the nation state.

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