Suchergebnisse

This is a study of the Shiv Sena, a minor but most influential affiliate of the Hindu nationalist movement. It discusses the politics and appeal of the party which has been governing Mumbai and has achieved electoral success in a democracy that it often despises.

Das Jahrtausend endete für die Shivsena mit einer Krise. Die Partei, die sich seit ihrer Gründung 1966 mit einem Programm eines mit gewalttätigen Aktionen und populistischen Gesten gespickten Hindunationalismus in Maharashtra etabliert hat und der es 1995 im Verein mit der BJP gelungen war, die Kongresspartei auch in ihrer westindischen Hochburg zu entmachten, verlor im Oktober 1999 die Wahlen zur Landesregierung. Eine Koalition des Congress (I) und der neu gegründeten National Congress Party (NCP) unter Maharashtras big man Sharad Pawar übernahm die Regierung in diesem westlichen Bundesland, das die Shivsena schon allein auf Grund ihrer regionalistischen Positionen zu regieren beansprucht. Damit schien die Partei schon nach ihrer ersten Regierungsperiode an ihre Grenzen gestoßen zu sein. (.).

This article analyzes the interaction between theories of radicalization and state responses to militancy in India. Focusing on the interpretation of the increased frequency of terrorist attacks in Indian metropolises in the last decade, the article examines the narratives surrounding those classified as terrorists in the context of rising Muslim militancy in the country. Different state agencies operate with different theories about the links between processes of radicalization and terrorist violence. The scenarios of radicalization underlying legislative efforts to prevent terrorism, the construction of motives by the police, and the interpretation of violence by the judiciary all rely on assumptions about radicalization and violence. Such narratives are used to explain terrorism both to security agencies and to the public; they inform the categories and scenarios of prevention. Prevention relies on detection of future deeds, planning, intentions, and even potential intentions. "Detection" of potential intentions relies on assumptions about specific dispositions. Identification of such dispositions in turn relies on the context-specific theories of the causes of militancy. These determine what "characteristics" of individuals or groups indicate potential threats and form the basis for their categorization as "potentially dangerous." The article explores the cultural contexts of theories of radicalization, focusing on how they are framed by societal understandings of the causes of deviance and the relation between the individual and society emerging in contemporary India. It examines the shift in the perception of threat and the categories of "dangerous others" from a focus on role to a focus on ascriptive identity.

"This article analyses mobilization among Hindu nationalist organizations. Rather than seeking their attraction in their discursive outputs and the possible answers they might give in times of change, the contention is that this is to be sought in the specific internal dynamics and the possibilities they create within their historical context. These specific opportunities for action are inherent firstly in a mode of operation relying on participation and involvement, their direct intervention, localness, and accessibility. The dichotomization inherent in violence makes it possible to integrate different interests and discontents under a single banner and therefore contributes to the project of unification undertaken by Hindu nationalism." (author's abstract)