Papers by Sarbeswar Sahoo
Based on team research, we identified five ways in which CSOs and donors can advance Southern le... more Based on team research, we identified five ways in which CSOs and donors can advance Southern leadership in civil society advocacy collaborations. First policy brief from the Civil Society Research Collective!
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Jul 9, 2013
This paper examines the role of non-government organisations (NGOs) and the implications for demo... more This paper examines the role of non-government organisations (NGOs) and the implications for democratisation in India. By analysing one such organisation, this paper argues that NGOs do not always contribute positively to the democratisation process. It shows how Seva Mandir, an NGO working in the tribal areas of Rajasthan, has adopted a purely technocratic and apolitical service delivery approach and promoted a neo-liberal model of development. The unintended consequence of promoting this model has been the growth of a culture of ‘organised dependency’ at the grass-roots level, which has adversely affected the larger objectives of empowerment and democratisation.
Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 2008
... rejected foreign funding as part of the project of western imperialism, which it thought woul... more ... rejected foreign funding as part of the project of western imperialism, which it thought would lead to the cultural subordination of the ... the five years of BJP rule successfully implemented the hate politics of Hindutva that eventually resulted in what Radhika Desai (2004:49 ...
Journal of Comparative Social Welfare, 2008
... the right to vote and were forced to work without remuneration as bonded labourers.3 Dalit of... more ... the right to vote and were forced to work without remuneration as bonded labourers.3 Dalit officers and ... Furthermore, the Planning Commission meeting with NGOs in 1994 also provided a comprehensive action plan for NGOs, which ... Journal of Comparative Social Welfare 137 ...
Journal of Contemporary Asia, Jun 15, 2010
Globalisation has had far-reaching implications for the dynamics of liberal democracy and governa... more Globalisation has had far-reaching implications for the dynamics of liberal democracy and governance in India. With the opening of the Indian economy in the 1990s, global market forces and private sector organisations have played an increasingly significant role in the political life of the nation. Given this background, several central questions are addressed. How has globalisation affected the way that state and civil society relations in India are constituted? In particular, what are its political implications for the poor who had previously relied on the services provided by the post-colonial state that carried out significant welfare-orientated functions? The paper argues that the contradictions of globalisation have transformed the dependent identity of the poor and marginalised toward a greater propensity for collective mobilisation. While the longer-term outcomes of such mobilisation remains unclear, the hegemonic position of entrenched elites is more clearly being challenged by the emergence of new agendas of inclusion, welfare rights and social justice appearing under conditions of neo-liberal globalisation.
T.A. Neyazi, A. Tanabe and S. Ishizaka (eds.) Democratic Transformation and the Vernacular Public Arena in India, London: Routledge, pp.59-75., Jul 15, 2014
Despite the long history of democratic transition, democracy in India has not been successful in ... more Despite the long history of democratic transition, democracy in India has not been successful in including the excluded. A majority of the marginal populations are still confined to the vernacular arena and are deprived of their citizenship rights. It is, however, observed that since the 1980s, the vernacular publics have increasingly been asserting themselves in electoral politics. They tend to participate in voting more than the middle classes and the rich. This paper, however, examines the participation of the vernacular publics not in the sphere of electoral politics and political parties but in civil society. It argues that the vernacular publics have utilized the civil society arena as a medium to challenge the imposed hegemony of the elites as well as to engage with the state institutions to influence development policies. Such active participation of the vernacular publics in the civil society arena has transformed not only the nature of state-society relationship but also the nature of democracy and development in India.
Political Studies Review, 2014
Political Studies Review, 2014
Political Studies Review, 2013
Political Studies Review, 2014
Political Studies Review, 2014
Political Studies Review, 2012
The Political Origins of Religious Liberty by Anthony Gill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press... more The Political Origins of Religious Liberty by Anthony Gill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. £19.99, 270pp., ISBN 978 0 521 61273 9
Democratization, 2014
This article assesses whether civil society promotes democratization, as has been argued implicit... more This article assesses whether civil society promotes democratization, as has been argued implicitly or explicitly in the political discourse, following the publication of Putnam's Making Democracy Work. The theorists of “third-wave” transitology have advocated civil society as the indispensable instrument for the survival and sustenance of democracy. This article, however, argues that civil society is not necessarily a democratic force. It may or may not have positive implications in regard to democratization and the functioning of democracy. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the tribal-dominated south Rajasthan, this article analyses the case of Rajasthan Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad (RVKP), a Hindu(tva)-oriented non-governmental organization (NGO), to demonstrate how civil society could also be anti-democratic. It shows that by utilizing development as a medium of entry, the RVKP has not only successfully presented itself as a counter-force against the “threatening others”, such as Muslims and Christians but also mobilized electoral support for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In return, the BJP-led state government has provided economic, political and legal support to the RVKP and facilitated the Hindutva politics at the grassroots level. The article concludes that in the context of Rajasthan, a conservative state has collaborated with an exclusivist civil society organization – the consequence of which has not just been the spread of violence and demonization of religious minorities but also a serious undermining of cultural pluralism and democratic values of Indian society.
Books by Sarbeswar Sahoo
This new research report from the Civil Society Research Collective shows why Southern leadership... more This new research report from the Civil Society Research Collective shows why Southern leadership in CSO advocacy collaborations makes perfect sense. We propose a way forward on this that doesn't marginalize Northern CSOs but capitalizes on complementary strengths. How? We call it Starting from the South.
Uploads
Papers by Sarbeswar Sahoo
Books by Sarbeswar Sahoo