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Political Science
& International
Relations
Crash Course
Lecture - 24

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Q.1)Do you subscribe to the view that the modern constructs of the state
and politics are pre-eminently Eurocentric and not indigenous and
appropriate for the analysis of non-western societies? [10m-2015]

• Sujata Patel explains Eurocentric or Eurocentrism as an idea that all knowledge emerged in Europe
in the context of European modernity. Patel writes that this narrative incorporates two master
narratives:

o the superiority of Western civilization (through progress and reason);

o the belief in the continuous growth of capitalism (through modernisation, development and
creation of new markets).

• Under this, Europe saw itself as the origin point of modernity, which became the point of reference
for other cultures and civilisations. Through this, the European societies justified their imperial
experience and the colonialism that they had imposed in other parts of the world.

• The rise of the modern state is attributed to the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 giving it a fixed
definition of territory, population, government and sovereignty.

• The modern idea of State is rooted in European theories of liberal democracy and nationhood. This
subscribes to the notion that the emergence of State was intrinsically linked to nationalism which
emerged with industrial society and a homogenous culture (E. Gellner).

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• Similarly, the state was a night-watchman with prime responsibility of law and order and having
well established political institutions and stable governments separate from a developed civil
society with economic enterprises usually in private hands. (Ralph Miliband).

• However, these ideas of a modern state can’t be applied to analyse most non-western societies due
to the following reasons:

• Pluralist societies: Unlike the homogenous nation-states of Europe, most non-western societies
consist of a myriad of religions, languages, communities and ethnicities. Thus, the European model
of standardization rather than consolidating authority when applied to non-western societies has
ended up causing civil wars.

• Overdeveloped state: Against Gunnar Myrdal’s soft state thesis with respect to South Asian
states, Hamza Alavi talks about the expansion of state power in developing countries wherein the
complex bureaucratic military nexus controls all aspects of society including the civilian
government.

• Traditional aspects with modern: The European understanding of state is often highlighted by
modernization thesis (Rostow). However, in most non-western societies there is continuation of
indigenous culture and traditions within modern state for example the reverence for royal family
in Japanese democracy or the politicization of caste (R. Kothari) in India.

• Post-coloniality: A number of non-western societies witnessed colonial rule which makes their
analyses more complex. They differed not only from European liberal conception but also from
Marxist. While State in Europe was viewed as handmaiden of bourgeoise, Alavi and Saul argue
that the post colonial state was not the instrument of a single class.

• Dependency state: The developmental model put ahead by likes of Powell, Pye, Coleman was
criticized for being a cover for neocolonialism that created a dependent state in non-western
societies relegated to the periphery of international economy (Frank, Amin, Wallerstein).

Neera Chandoke argues that different countries have had different experiences with colonialism,
distinctive political ideologies and differing vision of future. Naturally then any attempt to articulate a
general theory of state in the developing societies based on global frames of analysis should be
discouraged.

Conclusion
• The wide diversity in the various theories and practices of the state indicate the extreme
complexity of dealing with this important concept. A major inadequacy of theories of state remains
their inherent Eurocentric view. This should evolve with time because as it is said, ‘This is the
Asian Century,’ and the theoretical basis of non-western states cannot be termed as irredundant.

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Q.2 Comment on the decline of political parties and examine whether new
social movements shall be alternative strategies for establishing link
between government and society. [10m-2016]

• As per Mudge and Chen, Political parties are organizations that represent and aggregate citizens’
interests so that electoral majorities can be built to govern a country. They compete with other
political parties through electoral contests to gain votes and access to power.

• According to Mario Diani, Social movements, by contrast, are “networks of informal interaction
between a plurality of individuals, groups and/or organizations, engaged in a political and/or
cultural conflict, on the basis of a shared " " collective identity”.

Decline of political parties

• Observers like Ignazi Piero, Russel Dalton, and Martin Wattenberg have noted a declining role for
political parties in long-standing democracies.

• More recent examples from either side of the Atlantic would suggest that the influence of political
parties has continued to decline. Pierre Rosanvallon has termed it the emergence of post-
representative moment.

• Empirically, E. E. Schattschneider’s Global data show countries in many regions of the world have
experienced decreases in political party influence in terms of declining membership, voter turnout,
and party system stability.

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Factors of Decline of political parties
• Rise of niche parties: Nice party is a party which appeals to a narrow section of the electorates,
usually highlighting non-economic issues like religion and caste. For examples in Germany the rise
of Greens. In India these parties are on a rampant rise like AIMIM. They fail to represent well-
defined social interests and cut off the mass participation.

• Crisis of representation- According to Mainwaring, A ‘crisis of representation’ is characterized by

unstable patterns of representation and citizens who believe that they are not well represented.
Telling examples come from Latin America in the 1990s and early 2000s but also, more recently,
from Southern Europe in the early 2010s.

• Identity politics – The rise of identity politics has led to a de-facto presidential form of government
in India. Rather than party, charismatic authority of a leader becomes pull fact for people to vote.

• Globalisation - Rampant globalisation has led to more transparency and accountability among the
public. This has exposed the grim reality of corruption, dynastic politics and role of money and
muscle power in functioning of political parties. The Cambridge analytica issue exposed the same
with regard to parties in USA, UK and India.

• Declining political trust and rising dissatisfaction- Thomas Carothers found widespread public
dissatisfaction with political parties in the countries that experienced the “third wave” of
democratization from the 1970s through the 1990s.

New Social movements as an alternative:

• Mobilisation for attaining social justice-Although both the social movement and the political
party represent a ‘collective effort’ of people’s participation, but there’s a difference between them.
Andre Gunder Frank and Marta Fuentes held that the former does not strive for state power but
the latter does. According to them, the objective of social movement is social transformation. The
participants get mobilised for attaining social justice. For example Me too movement.

• These movements raised questions which were basically cultural and humanistic and about quality
of life-nuclear disarmament, LGBT, women issues, environmentalism – Middle class associated.

• Movements like Slow Food, with the slogan “Good, Clean, Fair Food,” is a global grassroots
movement claiming supporters in 150 countries. The movement links community and
environmental issues back to the question of what is on our plates and where it came from. With
more than 100,000 members in 1,300 local chapters, Slow Food is a movement that crosses political,
age, and regional lines.

• New platform of representation-New Social Movements (NSM) are the reflections of a new
‘representation of society characterised by post-capitalism, post-industrialism and post-
materialism.’

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• NSM as an alternative to the political parties could be sought after due to several reasons. Taking
the example of Canada, The Western Canada Concept, Western Independence Party,
Confederation of Regions Party, and Western Block were all registered political parties
representing social movements of western alienation. They all started as NSM and thereafter
mobilized people as an alternative to the traditional political parties.

• Failure of political parties in tackling burning issues-Social movements will always be a part of
society as long as there are aggrieved populations whose needs and interests are not being
satisfied. But, the political parties are distancing themselves from the need of public. Be it the rising
unemployment, toppling inflation or the curtailment of freedom of speech and expression, the
political parties failed to perform on these aspects.

• Flexible, informal and goal oriented-McCarthy and Zald conceptualize resource mobilization
theory as a way to explain a movement’s success in terms of its ability to acquire resources and
mobilize individuals to achieve goals and take advantage of political opportunities. NSM
movements are more flexible, diverse, shifting, and informal in participation and membership than
the political parties, often preferring to adopt non-hierarchical modes of organization and
unconventional means of political engagement.

Conclusion
• According to Herbert P. Kitschelt, in democracies, political parties and social movements fulfill
similar functions in that they both are key actors in the process of democratic representation.

• They both contribute to articulating citizens’ demands and preferences, as well as to decision-
making by aggregating preferences and by providing information. In a well-functioning
democracy, they may play complementary roles in the representation of interests.

• Political parties offer political programs and participate in elections in order to gain access to
government and to implement them. Social movements seize new demands that remain
unanswered by institutional actors and articulate them in the non-electoral channels of the public
sphere.

• Together with interest groups, both parties and movements constitute the backbone of citizens’
representation. But the relevance of political parties cannot be denied as suggested by E. E.
Schattschneider, “Political parties created modern democracy, and modern democracy is
unthinkable save in terms of the parties.”

• Political parties play a crucial role by entering formal institutions of the government. New Social
Movements may in fact provide basis for new parties to come up based on people’s demands
adding to diversity of party system for example the rise of AAP in India from Anti-Corruption
movement, Women’s Party in New Zealand etc,

• In other domains, active social movements can provide resources and backing to important
candidates/ political parties that can provide an alternative in formal institutions such as Bancada
Activista in Brazil.
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