Understanding India (Lecture Series) Tuesday, May 13Th, 2014 “India and Its Democracy”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

, Schumannstraße 8, 10117 Berlin Understanding India (Lecture Series) Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 “India and its Democracy” Rajeev Bhargava Rajeev Bhargava was until recently Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). He is currently a Professor at the centre and the director of its newly launched Institute of Indian Thought. He has been a Professor at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (1980-2005), and between 2001 and 2005 Head of Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi. Rajeev Bhargava did his BA in economics at the University of Delhi, and his MPhil and DPhil at Oxford University. He is a Honorary Fellow, Balliol college Oxford and Professorial Fellow at the Institute of social justice, ACU, Sydney. He has also been a Fellow at Harvard University, University of Bristol, Institute of Advanced Studies, Jerusalem, Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin, and the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna. He has also been a Distinguished Resident Scholar, Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life at Columbia University, and the Asia Chair at Sciences Po, Paris. Bhargava has held visiting professorships at several universities. Bhargava’s publications include Individualism in Social Science (1992), What is Political Theory and Why Do We Need It? (2010), and The Promise of India’s Secular Democ- racy (2010). His edited works are Secularism and Its Critics (1998) and Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution (2008). His work on secularism and methodological individualism is internationally acclaimed. He has contributed to the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philoso- phy and the Oxford Handbook of Political Theory. Bhargava is on the advisory board of several national and international institutions, and was a consultant for the UNDP report on cul- tural liberty. .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

The Secular Realm As Interfaith Space: Discourse and Practice in Contemporary Multicultural Nation-States
religions Article The Secular Realm as Interfaith Space: Discourse and Practice in Contemporary Multicultural Nation-States Paul Hedges S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore; [email protected] Received: 31 July 2019; Accepted: 21 August 2019; Published: 22 August 2019 Abstract: While classically posited as the separation of religion from public life, it is suggested that the contemporary secular public sphere in multicultural contexts has become a habitat for interfaith dialogue. Looking at dynamics in classical secular theory as well as some recent theorists of secularism and multiculturalism, most particularly Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, Tariq Modood, and Rajeev Bhargava, it is shown that far from being hostile to religion much of the practice of secularism is often entwined with particular discourses of religious norms. Using spatial theory, especially that of Lefebvre, four cameos from the UK, USA, Singapore, and India are used as indicative of the way that interfaith discourse is embedded in various aspects of the secular public sphere from governmental, through oﬃcial Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), to grassroots levels such that as forum externum religion is accepted in this space as interfaith dialogue. It is argued that a conceptual linkage of interfaith motifs is, if not inherent, then at least embedded in the secular realm in the contemporary multicultural context. Keywords: interfaith; interreligious; secularism; multiculturalism; public sphere; Tariq Modood; Henri Lefebvre; spatial; Jürgen Habermas; Charles Taylor; Rajeev Bhargava; dialogue; freedom of religion 1. Introduction The last few centuries have seen Western cultural and political hegemony spread its interpretations of state and society globally.
[Show full text]
Secularization Without Secularism in Pakistan
Research Questions / Questions de Recherche N°41 – September 2012 Secularization without Secularism in Pakistan Christophe Jaffrelot Centre d’études et de recherches internationales Sciences Po Research Questions / Questions de recherche – n°41 – September 2012 1 http://www.ceri-sciences-po.org/publica/qdr.htm Secularization without Secularism in Pakistan Summary Pakistan was created in 1947 by leaders of the Muslim minority of the British Raj in order to give them a separate state. Islam was defined by its founder, Jinnah, in the frame of his “two-nation theory,” as an identity marker (cultural and territorial). His ideology, therefore, contributed to an original form of secularization, a form that is not taken into account by Charles Taylor in his theory of secularization – that the present text intends to test and supplement. This trajectory of secularization went on a par with a certain form of secularism which, this time, complies with Taylor’s definition. As a result, the first two Constitutions of Pakistan did not define Islam as an official religion and recognized important rights to the minorities. However, Jinnah’s approach was not shared by the Ulema and the fundamentalist leaders, who were in favor of an islamization policy. The pressures they exerted on the political system made an impact in the 1970s, when Z.A. Bhutto was instrumentalizing Islam. Zia’s islamization policy made an even bigger impact on the education system, the judicial system and the fiscal system, at the expense of the minority rights. But Zia pursued a strategy of statization of Islam that had been initiated by Jinnah and Ayub Khan on behalf of different ideologies, which is one more illustration of the existence of an additional form of secularization that has been neglected by Taylor.
[Show full text]
Populism and the Shifting Coordinates of the Political
ICAS:MP Inaugural Meeting Populism and the shifting coordinates of the political 14 - 15 March 2018 India International Centre (IIC), IIC Annex, Lecture Room II, 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi Day 1: Wednesday, 14 March 2018 09:30 Registration 10:00 Welcome Address Martin Fuchs (ICAS:MP Co-Director, Max Weber Kolleg Erfurt) 10:15 Introduction Ravi Vasudevan (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi) 10:45 Tea & Coffee Break 11:15 Populist Politics and the Complicity of Social Science: Lessons from Brexit and Trump Gurminder K Bhambra (University of Sussex) Chair: Elisabeth Schömbucher-Kusterer (University of Würzburg) Discussant: Mary E. John (Centre for Women’s Development Studies, Delhi) 12:30 Authoritarian Populism and the Opaque Economy Satish Deshpande (Delhi School of Economics) Chair & Discussant: Prabhu Mohapatra (Delhi University) 13:30 Lunch 14:30 Aesthetics and Politics Chair: Tanika Sarkar A Goddess, a Chief Minister and a City: Reflections on a Festival-Mode of Populist Politics Tapati Guha-Thakurta (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta) Discussant: Janaki Nair (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi) Monstrous Unions: Aesthetic Dimensions of Protests and Populism Stefan Jonsson (Linköping University, Sweden) Discussant: Kaushik Bhaumik (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi) 16:30 Tea & Coffee Break 17:00 Keynote 1: The Eyes of Chávez. Post-truth and Populism in Venezuela Rafael Sánchez, (The Graduate Institute, Geneva) Chair: Andreas Gestrich (German Historical Institute, London) Discussant: Thomas Blom
[Show full text]
INSTITUTE of CHINESE STUDIES Centre for the Study of Developing Societies 29 Rajpur Road Delhi-110054 ANNUAL REPORT ICS Activities 1April 2008 to 31 March 2009
INSTITUTE OF CHINESE STUDIES Centre for the Study of Developing Societies 29 Rajpur Road Delhi-110054 ANNUAL REPORT ICS Activities 1April 2008 to 31 March 2009 Tel/Fax: +91-11-2399 2166; Tel: 23938202 / 2393 8267 Email: [email protected]; [email protected], website: www.icsin.org CONTENTS Page 1. Overview 3 2. National and International Seminars and Workshops 4 3. ICS Participation in International Conferences 6 4. ICS Wednesday Seminars 6 5. Research and Training 6 6. Dissemination and Outreach 7 7. ICS Library 7 8. Distinguished visitors 9 10. Faculty Awards and Memberships 16 Annexures: 1: ICS Wednesday Seminars 18 3: ICS Office-bearers, Faculty and Staff 20 2 ICS Annual Report 1st April 2008 to 31st March 2009 1. OVERVIEW Introduction to the Institute of Chinese Studies The Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) grew out of the China Study Group which was initiated in 1969 as an informal, interdisciplinary forum of scholars working on China at various universities and research institutes of Delhi. The Group conducted fortnightly discussions on contemporary topics, and helped sustain China Report, the only Indian journal on China and East Asia. In 1990, the China Study Group was reconstituted as the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), an interdisciplinary East Asian research programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. The main function of the ICS is to promote the systematic study of China and East Asia in India by initiating and supporting research programmes, both within the Institute and outside. It seeks to provide a forum for sustained scholarly exchange and interaction between Indian academics and scholars from China and other parts of the world, to build up resource materials and a data-base on China, to disseminate information and research findings to a wider public, as well as to train younger social scientists in East Asian Studies.
[Show full text]
Five Year Anniversary Edition
Five Year Anniversary Edition OUR MISSION THE BERGGRUEN INSTITUTE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2010 WITH A MISSION TO DEVELOP FOUNDATIONAL IDEAS, AND THROUGH THEM, SHAPE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. In the age of technology and globalization, critical analysis of our systems and the beliefs on which they are founded is required. As an international “think and action” network, we seek to bring together the best minds and most authoritative voices from across cultural and political boundaries to address the core challenges of our era – from global governance to what it means to be human in an age of technology. 3 CONTENTS 3 6 8 Our Mission Letter from the Chairman Celebrating 5 Years Timeline 12 20 26 21st Century Council Council for the Think Long Committee Future of Europe for California 32 38 46 Philosophy + Culture The WorldPost Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century 4 5 The Berggruen Institute was founded five years ago LETTER to foster new thinking about the most consequential social and political issues of our day. As an action FROM THE and think tank, our mission is also to promote the innovative design of governing institutions and media CHAIRMAN to meet those challenges. In many ways, our most audacious projects have been our most successful. Through the 21st Century Council, we have built a critical bridge between China and the rest of the world in our “Understanding China” series of meetings with President Xi Jinping and the top leadership of that major rising power. The many “town hall” meetings from Madrid to Berlin hosted by our Council for the Future of Europe have provided a rare forum where top leaders can meet to map a common destiny.
[Show full text]
Rajeev Bhargava Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
The Office of the Provost cordially invites you to the third lecture in the Humanities and Social Sciences Lecture Series “Synergies and Critique in the Humanities and the Social Sciences” is the theme of the first of a series of lectures organized by the Provost’s Office. The series explores points of engagement between the humanities and the social sciences, through lectures and seminars delivered by leading scholars working at the interface of the two areas. The series is part of a wider initiative at CEU to promote the humanities and their continued engagement with the social sciences. ‘Why Some Social Sciences Can’t Be Separated from the Humanities’ delivered by Rajeev Bhargava Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi Chair: Prem Kumar Rajaram Associate Provost, Social Sciences and Humanities If social sciences are modeled on the natural sciences, then an unbridgeable chasm appears between social sciences and humanities. But such modelling utterly distorts the subject matter of our study, namely human beings. If such distortion is to be avoided and human beings are to be properly understood and explained, then we must begin to realize that humanities are at the heart of social science. Bhargava argues that human beings are irreducibly social, that the social is largely constituted by linguistic and other types of meanings and to understand these meanings, the methods of philosophy, history and even literature are indispensable. Date: Monday, June 2, 2014 Time: 5:30 p.m. Venue: Popper Room (Nador u. 9) RAJEEV BHARGAVA is currently Professor, CSDS and was its Director from 2007-2014.
[Show full text]
An Ancient Indian Secular Age?
1 An Ancient Indian Secular Age? Rajeev Bhargava Charles Taylor's 'A Secular Age' is a book about the social imaginary of the North- Atlantic and to some extent European modernity. But much of its argument and I believe the reason for its success lies in its characterization of what the secular age leaves behind, what no longer exists, perhaps what it has lost. It is a feature of Taylor's work that he enables us to experience the transition from one kind of life-world to another. Among these lost worlds, he discusses 'early religions' which still exist in some parts of the world. This paper must be viewed as part of a larger project that hopes to explore the transition in India from its world of early religions to a world with a marked resemblance to one inhabited by post-axial religions. A fragment of a larger project, this entire paper is written as an answer to a very narrow question. If Charles Taylor is correct about his understanding of what is meant by ‘secular’ (which by the way is closer to the modern Indian understanding of secular than to the more mainstream western understanding of the term) and if further, he is correct in his characterization of the secular age, is it at all conceivable that a secular age existed in ancient India-not India, the modern nation state but India the territorial cum civilizational unit? Is it plausible to suggest that a secular age existed in ancient India? Such a question I would have found preposterous only a few years ago but our current conjuncture appear to be full of momentous possibilities for rethinking the history of thought and thus this intellectual adventure appears worth undertaking.To take just one example, suppose that the answer, assuming that all thedistinctiveness and specificities of each secular age are revealed only by more detailed conceptual and historical studies, is a yes, what profound implications might this have for a theory of modernity? It is taken for granted by virtually every western theory that a close link exists between the secular and the modern.
[Show full text]
Liberalisms in East and West
LIBERALISMS IN EAST AND WEST University of Oxford 9-11 January 2009 LIBERALISMS IN EAST AND WEST University of Oxford 9-11 January 2009 Conference Programme All sessions will take place in the Nissan Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College, Oxford Friday 9 January 12.00 – 14.00 Registration (Foyer, Nissan Lecture Theatre) 13.00 Lunch (Hall, Hilda Besse Building) 14.00 Welcome and introduction: Timothy Garton Ash 14.15-18.45 The Conceptual Cacophony 14.15 Session 1: West Chair: Timothy Garton Ash North America Speaker: Paul Starr Europe Speaker: Pierre Rosanvallon Latin America Speaker: Laurence Whitehead 16.15 Coffee (Foyer, Hilda Besse Building) 16.45 Session 2: East Chair: Rana Mitter India Speaker: Rajeev Bhargava Japan Speaker: Matsuda Koichiro China Speaker: Wang Shaoguang 18.45 Drinks (Senior Common Room, Hilda Besse Building) 19.15 Dinner (Hall, Hilda Besse Building) Welcome by Margaret Macmillan 20.30 After-dinner drinks (Senior Common Room, Hilda Besse Building) 2 LIBERALISMS IN EAST AND WEST University of Oxford 9-11 January 2009 Saturday 10 January 08.45-18.00 Core Themes of Liberalism 08.45 Introduction: Michael Freeden 09.00 Session 3: Individualism Chair: Michael Freeden Lead speaker: Steven Lukes Comment: Carol Horton Justine Lacroix 10.45 Coffee (Foyer, Hilda Besse Building) 11.15 Session 4: Tolerance Chair: Stuart White Lead speaker: Susan Mendus Comment: Jacob Levy Rajeev Bhargava 13.00 Lunch (Hall, Hilda Besse Building) 14.00 Session 5: Markets Chair: Ian Goldin Lead speaker: Sir Samuel Brittan Comment: Cui Zhiyuan Zhang
[Show full text]
States, Religious Diversity, and the Crisis of Secularism
States, Religious Diversity, and the Crisis of Secularism Rajeev Bhargava ver the last three decades, secular states, virtually everywhere, have come under strain. It is hardly surprising then that political secularism, the doctrine that defends them, has also been subjected to severe criticism. Some scholars Ohave concluded that this critique is ethically and morally so profound and justified that it is time to abandon political secularism. I reject this conclusion. I argue that the criticism of secularism looks indefeasible only because critics have focused on main- stream conceptions developed in largely religiously homogenous societies. It is time we shifted focus away from doctrines underpinning some western secular states and towards the normative practices of a wide variety of states, including the best practices of nonwestern states such as India. Once we do this, we will begin to see secularism differently, as a critical ethical and moral perspective not against religion but against religious homogenization and institutionalized (inter- and intrareligious) domination. Of all available alternatives, secularism remains our best bet to help us deal with ever deepening religious diversity and the problems endemic to it. I begin with the assumption that ethical reasoning must be both contextual and comparative. Given this, if we value freedom and equality and are sensitive to religion- related domination, then we must find theocratic states and states with established religions, which privilege one or some religions, to be morally and ethically defective. Such states perpetuate interreligious and intrareligious domination. Rajeev Bhargava, B.A. (Delhi), M.Phil, D.Phil (Oxford), is Senior Fellow and Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi.
[Show full text]
Institute of Chinese Studies Delhi Annual Report 2012-13
INSTITUTE OF CHINESE STUDIES DELHI ANNUAL REPORT 2012-13 8/17 SRI RAM ROAD, NEAR CIVIL LINES METRO STATION, DELHI 110054 Registered Under the Societies Registration Act XX1 of 1860 1 2 INTRODUCTION ver the last three decades, the ICS has carved out a very significant niche in the institutional landscape of the country. It is exceptional in the sense that there is no other O research institute in India that is solely devoted to the study of China and East Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Its distinctiveness also arises from the academics, practitioners and scholars from all parts of the country who are associated with it - and the range of its output and activities over the years. It has now, both at the national and international level, a wide network (of scholars and researchers) and it is now emerging, through its annual All-India Conference of China Studies and its recently set up All-India China Scholars‟ Association, as the nodal institution for promoting Chinese Studies in the nation. 2012-13 has been an extremely momentous and notable year, packed with activities and new developments for the ICS. This period witnessed the long-awaited expansion of the research faculty. In April 2012, the ICS got its first full-time Director, Alka Acharya, as well as an Assistant Director, Jabin Jacob, three Associate Fellows, Debasish Chaudhuri, Panu Pazo and Madhurima 3 Nundy, two Research Associates, Peter Joy Hudson and Nirmola Sharma and one Research Assistant, PK Anand. Several Visiting Fellows working on various projects, were also associated with the ICS during the course of the year – YJ Sithara Fernando (November 2011-November 2012) Ninad Sheth (June 2012-December 2012) Joe Thomas K (December 2012-March 2013) and Raviprasad Narayanan (since February 2013); two Visiting Research Associates, Kalyan Kemburi (Singapore) and Madelina Daenhardt(Cambridge) and several interns were also located in the ICS during the year.
[Show full text]
Political Secularism: Why It Is Needed and What Can Be Learnt from Its Indian Version
POLITICAL SECULARISM: WHY IT IS NEEDED AND WHAT CAN BE LEARNT FROM ITS INDIAN VERSION Rajeev Bhargava Secularism appears to be under siege everywhere. The predicted decline or privatisation has failed to occur not only in non-western but in western societies. (Casanova 1994). In hindsight it seems the ascendance of secular-humanism was episodic and temporary, restricted anyway to a few highly visible European societies. Moreover, political secularism, the doctrine of the separation of state and religion was jolted with the establishment of the first modern theocracy in Khomeini’s Iran. Soon other religious voices began to be heard and then to aggressively occupy the public domain. In Egypt, people were urged to free themselves of the last vestiges of a colonial past and to establish a Muslim state. In 1989, an Islamic state was established in Sudan. In 1991, the Islamic Salvation Front won the election in Algeria. Islamic movements emerged in Tunisia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chad, Senegal, Turkey, and in Afghanistan. (Westerlund 1996; Kepels 1994) The states of Pakistan and Bangladesh increasingly acquired theocratic and Islamicist overtones. ( Ahmed 1987; Mohsin 1999) Movements that challenged the seemingly undisputed reign of secularism were not restricted to Muslim societies. Singhalese Buddhist nationalists in Sri Lanka, Hindu nationalists in India, religious ultra-orthodoxy in Israel and Sikh nationalists who demanded a separate state partly on the ground that Sikhism does not recognize the separation of religion and state all symptomised a deep crisis of secularism (Jeurgensmeyer 1994). Protestant movements decrying secularism emerged in Kenya, Guatemala and Philippines. Protestant fundamentalism became a force in American Politics.
[Show full text]
Religion, the State and Governance in the 21St Century University of Denver Religion in International Relations Curriculum Project Curriculum Modules
Religion, the State and Governance in the 21st Century University of Denver Religion in International Relations Curriculum Project Curriculum Modules Scott W. Hibbard August 15, 2010 The following curriculum material is intended to provide a broad overview of the issues concerning the interaction of religion, states and governance in contemporary politics. The material is divided, broadly, between a set of theoretical modules and a series of case studies. There are numerous case studies, drawn from a variety of regions and traditions. The intention is to allow individual instructors to identify the cases of interest to them, and to pull material from the various modules as they deem appropriate. At the end of this document is additional material for further research and syllabi development. 1. Theory a. Modernization Theory and Secularization Thesis i. Casanova, Jose, Public Religion in the Modern World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), Chapters 1 & 2. ii. Peter L. Berger, "The Process of Secularization," in The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (New York: Random House, 1967), pp. 105-125. iii. Steve Bruce, ed., Religion and Modernization: Sociologists and Historians Debate the Secularization Thesis (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). iv. Linnell Cady and Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, eds., Comparative Secularisms in a Global Age (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) b. The Resurgence of Religious Politics: Theory and Debates i. Peter Berger, "The De-secularization of the World: A Global Overview," in The Descularization of the World . ii. David Little, "Belief, Ethnicity, and Nationalism," Nationalism and Ethnic Politics I,2 (March, April 1995). iii. Mark Juergensmeyer, "The New Religious State," Comparative Politics , July 1995.
[Show full text]