The Saffron Wave (eBook)

Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India

Thomas Blom Hansen (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

1999
304 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-2305-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Thomas Blom Hansen is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and International Development Studies at Roskilde University in Denmark.

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The rise of strong nationalist and religious movements in postcolonial and newly democratic countries alarms many Western observers. In The Saffron Wave, Thomas Hansen turns our attention to recent events in the world's largest democracy, India. Here he analyzes Indian receptivity to the right-wing Hindu nationalist party and its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which claims to create a polity based on "e;ancient"e; Hindu culture. Rather than interpreting Hindu nationalism as a mainly religious phenomenon, or a strictly political movement, Hansen places the BJP within the context of the larger transformations of democratic governance in India. Hansen demonstrates that democratic transformation has enabled such developments as political mobilization among the lower castes and civil protections for religious minorities. Against this backdrop, the Hindu nationalist movement has successfully articulated the anxieties and desires of the large and amorphous Indian middle class. A form of conservative populism, the movement has attracted not only privileged groups fearing encroachment on their dominant positions but also "e;plebeian"e; and impoverished groups seeking recognition around a majoritarian rhetoric of cultural pride, order, and national strength. Combining political theory, ethnographic material, and sensitivity to colonial and postcolonial history, The Saffron Wave offers fresh insights into Indian politics and, by focusing on the links between democracy and ethnic majoritarianism, advances our understanding of democracy in the postcolonial world.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.3.1999
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Hinduismus
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Schlagworte: activism • Anna Hazare • Anti-incumbency • arya samaj • Ayodhya • Ayodhya Dispute • babur • Bajrang Dal • Bal Gangadhar Tilak • Balraj Madhok • Bharatiya Jana Sangh • Bharatiya Janata Party • B. R. Ambedkar • Bunch of Thoughts • caste • centrism • Colonialism • Communalism (political philosophy) • communal violence • Communitarianism • Conspiracy Theory • Contemporary Society • Counterculture • decentralization • Decolonization • democratic revolution • Dharna • Disenchantment • distrust • elitism • Endogamy • false consciousness • Fellow traveller • Gandhism • Giuseppe Mazzini • Good and evil • Governance • Governmentality • high politics • Hindu • Hinduism • Hindu nationalism • Hindutva • Ideology • Indian Nationalism • Insurgency • Islamic Fundamentalism • Janata Party • Jawaharlal Nehru • Koenraad Elst • Lala Lajpat Rai • left-wing politics • Liberalism • Liberalization • Maharashtra • Martial race • Mass Mobilization • middle class • Modernity • Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum • Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt • Narcissism • nathuram godse • Nationalist Movement • New Class • Non-Cooperation Movement • North India • Organiser (newspaper) • Orientalism • Peter van der Veer • political machine • Politics • popular education • Populism • President's rule • Public sphere • Racism • Radicalism (historical) • Ram Mohan Roy • Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh • Recuperation (politics) • Romanticism • Sangh Parivar • Sanskrit • Secularism • separatism • Shiv Sena • Smriti • Sovereignty • Subversion • Swadeshi Jagaran Manch • Swadeshi movement • Swami Vivekananda • Syed Shahabuddin • Triumphalism • untouchability • Vinayak Damodar Savarkar • Vishva Hindu Parishad • V. P. Singh • war
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-2305-6 / 1400823056
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-2305-5 / 9781400823055