Debates In India Research Articles

Pakistan Factor in India’s Domestic Politics

Overt acquisition of nuclear weapons capacity by India and Pakistan in May 1998 signalled a tectonic shift in the nature of subcontinental conflicts. India’s military superiority in the region and its strategic depth got considerably weakened due to Pakistan’s attainment of strategic parity vis-à-vis India. In the wake of overt nuclearisation, the logic of nuclear deterrence in subcontinental security dynamics was also questioned because of continued security instability, evident in instances like the military impasse of 2001–2002. Hence, the subject of nuclearisation of subcontinental security began to capture wider spaces in the political debates in India. This strategic decision, having been taken by a coalition government, imparted enormous complexities to the domestic political exchanges over the security dynamics of the subcontinent. It also drastically transformed the nature and content of India’s domestic politics, as it brought strategic issues and foreign policy agenda of the government into the political parlance of the common people.

The rise and demise of the ‘social clause’ proposal in the 1990s: implications of a discourse theoretical reading

The international labour movement's campaign to fortify the International Labour Organization's (ILO's) core labour standards by way of a World Trade Organization (WTO) social clause failed in the 1990s. Many purported beneficiaries of such a clause conceived of the proposal as a proverbial ‘terrorist’ rather than a ‘freedom fighter’. Reappraising debates in India and the USA, this paper understands the failure in terms of discursive struggles played out both within national contexts, and in the transnational domain. It is argued that previous attempts at unpacking the debate have employed too simplistic discursive schema and paid insufficient attention to its transnational dynamics. The international union movement can only advance the ILO–WTO linkage idea by acknowledging, coming to terms with and addressing the concerns of a pervasive counter-hegemonic discourse.

Internal Dynamics of Sub-continental Security

Pokhran nuclear testing by India in May 1998 and a similar response by Pakistan immediately engendered an epochal shift in the nature of sub-continental conflicts. India’s conventional military superiority vis-a-vis Pakistan and its credibility as a regional hegemon, apparent in the three open wars fought between them prior to this, got supplanted by the smoke-screen of nuclear deterrence created by these blasts. But, most significant by-product of this strategic-decision-making in the subcontinent has been, that, unlike US and USSR, whose mutual hostilities during the Cold War got mitigated after both had obtained declared nuclear weapons status; the sub-continental security environment continued to dizzy under the threshold of an imminent conflict even after the overt nuclear weaponization of India and Pakistan, ultimately challenging the entire classical theorizing on nuclear deterrence. Due to this, the subject of the nuclearization of sub-continental security architecture began to capture wider spaces in the scholarly discourses and political debates in India. This crucial strategic decision, having been taken by a coalition Government at New Delhi, imparted enormous complexities to the domestic political exchanges over the security dynamics of the subcontinent. Above all, May 1998 not only signified a paradigm shift in India’s defence and foreign policy, but it also marked a watershed in the nature and content of India’s domestic politics, as it contributed significantly in bringing strategic issues and foreign policy agenda of the Government into the political parlance of the common masses.

Politics of Personal Law in India

Focusing explicitly on a political science perspective, this article argues that the inter-communal politics of personal law debates in India can be seen as a politically navigated form of identity construction. Specifically the Hindu–Muslim debates demonstrate that today, such contested matters of identity are not merely debated within national boundaries but have also taken on global dimensions which need to be accounted for. Inter-communal politics evidently have important implications for electoral politics, but manipulations of personal laws run the risk of making bad politics.

Feminism and Multicultural Dilemmas in India: Revisiting the Shah Bano Case

Debates in India following on from the Shah Bano case highlight the extent to which gender equality may be compromised by yielding to the dominant voices within a particular religion or cultural tradition. As the Indian Supreme Court noted in Danial Latifi & Anr v Union of India, the pursuit of gender justice raises questions of a universal magnitude. Responding to those questions requires an appeal to norms that claim a universal legitimacy. Liberal feminist demands for a uniform civil code, however, have pitted feminist movements against proponents of minority rights and claims for greater autonomy for minority groups. Against the background of growing communal tensions, many feminists have argued for more complex strategies—strategies that encompass the diversity of women's lives and create a sense of belonging amongst women with diverse religious-cultural affiliations. Liberal theories of rights that abstract from the concrete realities of women's daily lives have not always addressed the institutions and procedures necessary to build that sense of belonging. This article examines the contribution made by discourse ethics theorists to debates on models of multicultural arrangements. It argues that deliberative models of democracy recognize the need for ‘difference-sensitive’ processes of inclusion, potentially assisting feminism in resolving the apparent conflict between the politics of multiculturalism and the pursuit of gender equality.

Parties to panchasheel: India-China relations and the nuclear explosions in South Asia

India's nuclear explosions on 11 May and 13 May 1998 seriously disrupted the trend of normalization in India-China relations that had developed steadily since Rajiv Gandhi's visit to China in 1988. Pakistan's nuclear tests on 28 May brought tensions in the subcontinent to a new peak. China had only expressed “concern” after the first round of explosions by India. But it reacted with a sharp denunciation in its May 14 statement after Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee, in his letter to U.S. President Clinton, justified the tests as necessary to meet the threat from China. A few days earlier Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes had referred to China as India's “potential threat number one.”The deterioration in China-India relations was reflected in the articles published in the press in both countries. India was particularly upset when in a joint statement President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin asked India and Pakistan to roll back their nuclear programs. India criticized the United States for ignoring China's involvement in the development of Pakistan's nuclear program and for assigning Pakistan a “policing” role in South Asia.Public debates in India showed how the BJP-led government's decision to go nuclear was more a strategy for political mobilization to strengthen its base among the electorate than a serious security measure. The Indian government has instituted damage control measures and has slowly moved to restore the process of dialogue with China. Prior to the explosions a large consensus had emerged in India to have peaceful and friendly relations with both Pakistan and China. In the early months of 1999 it was clear that the normalization process had been resumed within the framework of Panchasheel—the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.