Paper short abstract:

Through a comparison of the anti-Ayub and anti-Musharraf movements in Pakistan, this papers attempts to answer two question; what are the constraints on rural mobilisation in Punjab, and what underpins the enduring disconnect between urban and rural protest in Punjab.

Paper long abstract:

Like the anti-Ayub movement of 1968, the movement that ended the Musharraf government in 2007-08 was a predominantly urban one. Bringing together lawyers, students, professionals, and main political parties, its focus remained centred around Pakistan's major cities and towns. Successful as the movement was, it lacked links to the countryside; to the extent that agrarian interests were represented, they were those of the traditional landed elite embedded within the political party system.

Despite the persistence of rural poverty and inequality, movements in rural Punjab remain notable for their absence. While there are exceptions to this, such as the mobilization on the military farms of Okara, they have tended to be sporadic. This is in contrast with urban Punjab, where protests against the government remain routine. This paper will examine two main questions; what are the constraints on rural mobilisation in Punjab, and what underpins the continuing disconnect between urban and rural protest. By comparing the anti-Ayub and anti-Musharraf movements, it will be shown that it is the historically reinforced mechanisms underlying the control of landowning elites in the countryside that continue to undermine popular rural participation both within and outside the formal, institutionalised arena of politics, and that the uneven geography of resistance in Punjab is reflective of an inability on the part of urban actors to overcome these barriers to entry in rural politics. In this context, cases like Okara assume even greater significance as they illustrate the circumstances and strategies that contribute towards overcoming the constraints to rural resistance in Punjab.

Paper short abstract:

The concurrent growth of pietist movements with the dominance of neoliberalism as the horizon of possibilities requires deeper engagement. Through a focus on a lower middle class neighbourhood in Lahore, the paper will attempt to analyse the relationship between new expression of extremely depoliticized religiousity and neoliberalism.

Paper long abstract:

The Tablighi Jamaat is a pietist group that positions itself as vehemently apolitical. Founded in the early part of the twentieth century the organization has really risen to prominence over the last twenty years. Interestingly, many Islamists have also joined TJ over the last two decades. It remains to be seen whether that is a reflection of their disappointment with Islamism specifically or politics more generally. What role the larger context of neoliberalism plays here also remains underexplored. Certainly, there seems to be significant congruence between the extreme depoliticization that TJ supports and the market oriented citizen that neoliberalism promotes. Through a look at the dynamics of a lower middle class neighbourhood in Lahore, the paper attempts to analyse some of the dynamics of social inequality and the ideologies that perpetuate them.

Paper short abstract:

Why are new social movements in India increasingly adopting legislative (think of ends in terms of favourable laws) and adjudicatory (think of ends in terms of favourable court judgments) strategies? Does this alter the basic social cleavages that the movement is based on? I answer this question by analyzing Anna Hazare’s 2011 hunger strike demanding a strong anti-corruption law, and what this says about India’s new middle-classes.

Paper long abstract:

Why are new social movements in India increasingly adopting legislative (think of ends in terms of favourable laws) and adjudicatory (think of ends in terms of favourable court judgments) strategies? Does this alter the basic social cleavages that the movement is based on? Do these strategies 'succeed', and how do these strategies reshape the character and norms of the movements themselves?

I will answer this by comparing case studies of different social movements in India and the legislative/adjudicatory strategies adopted by them. Specifically, I analyze social activist Anna Hazare's hunger strike demanding a strong anti-corruption law, and what this says about India's new middle-classes.

I argue that the movement consisted of four intellectual strands with a common social base: India's middle class. These strands are: the anti-state leanings of India's new post-liberalization 'private' middle-classes, a Gandhian urge to connect political reform with social emancipation, and activist lawyers. While the activist lawyers are responsible for the legislative nuances of the movement, the movement itself is mainly powered by a fundamental demographic change in India: newly middle-class citizens who have little to do with the state, whose upward mobility are in the private spaces of India Inc.

Paper short abstract:

My aim in this presentation is to try and explore the links between the contemporary forms of rural mobilisations in India - in the spheres of agriculture and caste - and the continuing relevance, as in my argument, of the "agrarian question".

Paper long abstract:

The history of development in India is characterised by the persistence of mass poverty and aggravating inequality, with a large part of the population virtually excluded from the 'growing' spheres of economy and society. The roots of India's abysmal record is removing poverty and deprivation lie in the historic failure of the Indian state to resolve the "agrarian question". Deprivation by virtue of class status continues to be a reality in Indian villages. At the same time, "class" has interacted with caste in myriad ways to produce social systems that are not only exploitative in economic, but also in socio-cultural and political, terms.

After 1991, the fundamental contradictions of the post-independence agrarian economy have persisted; on the other hand, some of the soft pillars on which the earlier regime rested have been undermined. The latter has led to what many authors call an "agrarian crisis".

In this context, I try to relate the demands underlying new forms of mobilisations - particularly in the spheres of agriculture and caste - as well as the social bases of these mobilisations to the elements of the "agrarian question". First, I stress the continuing relevance of agrarian class differentiation in understanding new agrarian mobilisations. The simplistically assumed linear relationship between agrarian crisis and agrarian mobilisations needs serious rethink. Secondly, I stress the continuing importance of land concentration as the material basis for caste discrimination. However, the inter-penetration of class and caste renders the problem complicated, and necessitates finer analyses from complementary perspectives.

Paper short abstract:

Donor agencies have had great influence on social mobilization in Nepal and the NGOs are a major catalyzing force that attempt at class based mobilization to improve material dimension of poverty. Based on a critical re-reading of ‘social capital’, the paper argues that identity based mobilization is required to reduce poverty and inequality.

Paper long abstract:

The paper analyses the question of rural change through notions related to social capital - bonding, bridging and linking social relations. The concept of 'social capital' entered development theory and practice very rapidly, after the definition proposed by James Coleman in 1988, and the use to which Robert Putnam put the concept in 1993 in Making Democracy Work. It is even claimed that social capital is the "missing link" in development, partly because it adds a new focus to "people-centred development", and partly because it can be seen as a complement to other forms of capital. Critics suggest that the concept of social capital as advocated by both neo-liberals and postmodernists is chaotic, ambiguous and rooted in unsatisfactory understanding both of social and of capital. Though sharing part of this critique, the paper argues that social capital can provide helpful insights.

Empirically, the paper compares and contrasts three case studies of social mobilization in three locations - a remote village, a roadside village and a Maoist controlled village. The findings reveal that building on ethnic bonding relationships can facilitate bridging between groups, which in turn generates more organic social capital and underpins struggles against hierarchical linking mechanical relations using the mix of participative and directive change strategy. It shows that not just market relations and rural infrastructure development, but progressive political, social and ideological changes are needed to bring about the kind of rural transformation that generates more equality and justice as well as more wealth.