Power and Contestation

Nivedita Menon is Reader in the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi . She is author of Recovering Subversion: Feminist Politics Beyond the Law (2004) and editor of Gender and Politics in India (1999). A feminist scholar and political theorist, she has been involved in a wide range of political and social movements, especially against the rise of sectarian politics, against mass displacement of workers and in the anti-nuclearization movement.Aditya Nigam is currently a Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi. He has written and published on issues relating to Marxism, modernity, nationalism and identity, and is currently working on a book on the left in a post-utopian world. He is author of The Insurrection of Little Selves (2006). He was a full-time political activist with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for over a decade and has worked with various social movements before reentering academia.

'This is a sophisticated yet accessible survey of contemporary Indian politics and society. It will be an excellent textbook and a handy reference work to a complex field of study' Faisal Devji, New School University 'This book approaches the daunting task of analyzing the contradictory, diverse, and divergent history of India since 1989 with uncommon intelligence. To its great merit, Power and Contestation addresses the multiple trends in Indian politics while also offering a coherent and sustained argument about the principal driving forces. To manage to accomplish all this while maintaining a perspective at once local and global is no mean feat.' Gyan Prakash, Princeton University 'Menon and Nigam provide us a much-needed, readily accessible, deeply informed, and critically sophisticated insiders' analysis of political reality in India during its rapid rise to global stardom as a neo-liberal icon of economic success.' David Ludden, New York University 'This book, written by two academics who are also campaigners, offers the best survey of recent Indian history that I have seen.' Barry Pavier, International Socialism 'A great introduction to the complex contradictions that make up contemporary India .. A critical, insightful, and yet accessible description of India's present history ... Brilliant analysis ... A forceful book.' Labour/Le Travail

• 1. Introduction: The Conjuncture of the 1990s2. Revolt of the Lower Castes3. Hindutva: Politics of the Hindu Right4. Nation Under Siege5. Globalization I: Accelerated Development6. Globalization II: The New Economy of Desire7. Left and the Social Movements: Looking Towards the Future8. India in the World