Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T07:29:54.849Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethnicity and Pluralism: An Exploration with Reference to Indian Cases*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Narendra Subramanian
Narendra Subramanian
Affiliation:
McGill University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When might high ethnic mobilization co-exist with social pluralism? The article addresses this question by comparing four of India's major ethnic movements/parties. “Organizational pluralism” denotes flexibility and autonomy in party-society and intra-party transactions. Pluralism within influential political organizations aids social pluralism. High levels of organizational pluralism led Dravidianism to aid social pluralism; comparatively low levels led Hindu revivalist and Sikh organizations to ignore incentives to adopt more inclusive strategies. States willing and able to foster tolerance will emerge amidst high ethnic mobilization only if activists promote pluralism within major ethnic organizations.

Résumé

Un haut niveau de mobilisation ethnique peut-il co-exister avec le pluralisme social, et dans quelles conditions? Cet article répond à cette question par la comparaison de quatre des principaux mouvements/partis ethniques de I'lnde. Le « pluralisme organisationnel » dénote l'existence d'un certain degré de flexibilité et d'autonomie dans les relations internes des partis et dans les rapports qu'ils entretiennent avec la société. Le pluralisme des organisations politiques influentes est un facteur de promotion du pluralisme social. Ainsi, un haut niveau de pluralisme organisationnel a permis au dravidianisme de contribuer au pluralisme social; à l'inverse, un niveau relativement bas de pluralisme organisationnel a conduit les organisations sikh et celles du « renouveau hindou » à ignorer les incitations à l'adoption de stratégies politiques plus conciliantes. L'émergence d'États capables et désireux de promouvoir la tolérance ne sera possible, dans un contexte de mobilisation ethnique élevée, que si les militants promouvoient le pluralisme au sein des principals organisations ethniques.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 1999 , pp. 715 - 744
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See Lijphart, Arend, Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977Google Scholar); and Horowitz, Donald, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985Google Scholar).

2 See, for instance, the discussion of official language policies in Laitin, David, Language Repertoires and State Construction in Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992CrossRefGoogle Scholar); and of conflict management strategy in Brass, Paul, Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and Comparison (New Delhi: Sage, 1991Google Scholar).

3 Lijphart lists an extensive list of countries where he claims ethnic power-sharing worked (Lijphart, Arend, “The Puzzle of Indian Democracy: A Consociational Interpretation,” American Political Science Review 90 [1996], 258–259CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

4 Horowitz, Donald, A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional Engineering in a Divided Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991Google Scholar); and Lijphart, Arend, Power-Sharing in South Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985Google Scholar).

5 Horowitz provides a sophisticated account along these lines (Ethnic Groups in Conflict).

6 Kohli, Atul, “Can Democracies Accommodate Ethnic Nationalism? The Rise and Decline of Self-Determination Movements,” The Journal of Asian Studies 56 (1997), 325–344CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brass, Ethnicity and Nationalism; and Weiner, Myron, The Indian Paradox: Essays in Indian Politics (Delhi: Sage, 1991), 21–37, 77–95.Google Scholar

7 Brass, Ethnicity and Nationalism, 111–237; Singh, Gurharpal, “Punjab since 1984: Disorder, Order, and Legitimacy,” Asian Survey 36 (1996), 410–421CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Singh, Gurharpal, “The Punjab Crisis since 1984: A Reassessment,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 18 (1995), 476–493CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bose, Sumantra, The Challenge in Kashmir: Democracy, Self-Determination and a Just Peace (Delhi: Sage, 1997Google Scholar); and Ganguly, Sumit, The Crisis in Kashmir: Portents of War, Hopes of Peace (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997Google Scholar).

8 Weiner, Myron, Party Building in a New Nation: The Indian National Congress (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967Google Scholar). The Congress party in Gujarat and the communists in Kerala were among the exceptions.

9 Madan, T. N., “Secularism in Its Place,” The Journal of Asian Studies 46 (1987), 747–759CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Chatterjee, Partha, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse? (London: Zed, 1986), 85–166Google Scholar; and Chatterjee, Partha, “Secularism and Toleration,” Economic and Political Weekly 29 (1994), 1768–1777.Google Scholar

10 Dandekar, V. M. and Rath, N., “Poverty in India: Dimensions and Trends,” Economic and Political Weekly of India 6 (1971), 25–48, 106–46Google Scholar; and Srinivasan, T. N. and Bardhan, Pranab, eds., Rural Poverty in South Asia (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988).Google Scholar

11 See Jaffrelot, Christophe, The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996Google Scholar) on Hindu revivalism; Oberoi, Harjot, The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994Google Scholar) and Singh, “The Punjab Crisis since 1984” and “Punjab since 1984” about Sikh revivalism; and Subramanian, Narendra, Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization: Political Parties, Citizens and Democracy in South India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999Google Scholar) regarding Dravidianism.

12 Support for the Muslim Conference, which alone favoured amalgamation with Pakistan, was concentrated in Azad Kashmir (the portion occupied by Pakistan) after 1948.

13 Bose, The Challenge in Kashmir, 32–36, 173–74.

14 Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries; Brass, Ethnicity and Nationalism, 167–87; and Singh, “Punjab since 1984.”

15 Brass, Ethnicity and Nationalism, 174–76, 182–83.

16 Jaffrelot, Hindu Nationalist Movement; and Basu, Tapan, Datta, P. K., Sarkar, Sumit, Sarkar, Tanika and Sen, Sambuddha, Khakhi Shorts and Saffron Flags: A Critique of the Hindu Right (Delhi: Orient Longman, 1993Google Scholar).

17 The banning of some Hindu revivalist organizations after the assassination of Gandhi and after the destruction of the Babri Masjid was not backed by systematic crackdowns.

18 Hansen, Thomas Blom and Jaffrelot, Christophe, eds., The BJP and the Compulsions of Politics in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998Google Scholar).

19 Subramanian, Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization, 130–310; and Barnett, Marguerite R., The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976Google Scholar).

20 Subramanian, Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization, 98–121, 153–54.

21 Ibid., 192–97; and Dasgupta, Jyotirindra, Language Conflict and National Development: Group Politics and National Language Policy in India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970), 159–196.Google Scholar

22 A different view, which provides no suggestions for promoting pluralism in regions where it is weak, is advanced by Putnam, Robert (Making Democracies Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993]Google Scholar).

23 Definition drawn from Shils, Edward, The Intellectuals and the Powers and Other Essays (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972), 404–407Google Scholar; Laclau, Ernesto, Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory (London: New Left Books, 1977), 165–167, 172–76Google Scholar; and Lyrintzis, Christos, “The Power of Populism: The Greek Case,” European Journal of Political Research 15 (1987), 669–671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24 Gleaned from Annadurai, C. N., Aariya Maayai [Aryan Mystification] (Tiruchi: Dravida Pannai, 1985Google Scholar); Annadurai, , Thee Paravattum [Let the Fire Spread] (Madras: Bharathi, 1986Google Scholar); Annadurai, , Zamin-Inam Ozhippu [The Abolition of Zamins and Inams] (Madras: Paari, 1986Google Scholar); Annadurai, , Thambikku Annavin Kadithangal [Anna's Letters to His Younger Brother] (Madras: Paari, 1986Google Scholar); Annadurai, , Panaththottam [Garden of Money] (Madras: Paari, 1985Google Scholar); and extensive interviews with activists.

25 Lyrintzis, , “The Power of Populism,” 670–72; Ionescu, Ghita and Gellner, Ernest, eds., Populism: Its Meaning and National Characteristics (London: Macmillan, 1969Google Scholar); Brass, Ethnicity and Nationalism, 20–21, 62–63; Fishman, Joshua A., “Nationality-Nationalism and Nation-Nationalism,” in Fishman, Joshua and Dasgupta, Jyotirindra, eds., Language Problems of Developing Nations (New York: John Wiley, 1968), 39–51Google Scholar; and Meinecke, Friedrich, Cosmopolitanism and the National State (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970), 9–22.Google Scholar

26 Subramanian, Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization, 136–44; Barnett, Politics of Cultural Nationalism, 239–310; Ramaswamy, Sumathi, Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891–1970 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998Google Scholar); and Annadurai, Panaththottam.

27 For other typologies of populism, see Ionescu and Gellner, Populism, and Allcock, J. B., “Populism: A Brief Biography,” Sociology 5 (1971), 371–387CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Arun Swamy misleadingly claims to have initially conceptualized the kind of typology I adopt. See Swamy, Arun R., “Parties, Political Identities and the Absence of Mass Political Violence in South India,” in Kohli, Atul and Basu, Amrita, eds., The State and Community Conflicts in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998), 109Google Scholar (note 1). This typology was introduced in Subramanian, Narendra, “Ethnicity, Populism and Pluralist Democracy: Mobilization and Representation in South India” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, MIT, 1993Google Scholar) and prefigured by discussion of the “moral economy” and “sons of the soil” outlooks in Subramanian, Narendra, “Towards an Understanding of the Dravidian Movement” (unpublished Masters thesis, MIT, 1987Google Scholar).

28 Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1983), 108–115Google Scholar; Marty, Martin and Appleby, Scott, eds., Fundamentalisms Observed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991Google Scholar); Juergensmeyer, Mark, The New Cold War: Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993Google Scholar); Jones, Kenneth, Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989Google Scholar); and Levine, Daniel, ed., Religion and Political Conflict in Latin America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986Google Scholar).

29 Bell, J. D., Peasants in Power: Alexander Stamboliiski and the Bulgarian National Union, 1899–1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977)Google Scholar; Mouzelis, Nicos, Politics in the Semi-Periphery: Early Parliamentarism and Late Industrialization in Latin America and the Balkans (London: Macmillan, 1986), 35–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Tambiah, Stanley J., Buddhism Betrayed? Religion, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992Google Scholar).

30 Coniff, Michael, ed., Latin American Populism in Comparative Perspective (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982).Google Scholar

31 The conclusions regarding voter alignments and variations in local mobilization are based on the ecological analysis of election results and case studies of mobilization and competition in five representative state legislative assembly constituencies.

32 Dickey, Sara, “The Politics of Adulation: Cinema and the Production of Politicians in South India,” Journal of Asian Studies 52 (1993), 340–372CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pandian, M. S. S., The Image Trap: M. G. Ramachandran in Film and Politics (Delhi: Sage, 1992Google Scholar); and Harriss, Barbara, Meals and Noon Meals in South India: Food and Nutrition Policy in the Rural Food Economy of Tamil Nadu State (Madras: Madras Institute of Development Studies, 1986Google Scholar).

33 MGR was a non-Brahmin Malayaii and thus within the scope of the broader definition of the Dravidian as a non-Brahmin South Indian, but this construction of ethnicity did not find broad acceptance.