Zaad Mahmood – författare

Globalization, as commonly understood, limits policy choices of a nation by creating structural-institutional constraints. This leads to an important question: are political actors still relevant in shaping policy in the interest of domestic socio-economic concerns? This book draws attention to the continuing relevance of local politics in influencing public policy, through a study of labour market reforms. Labour, unlike other factors of production, is not only a resource but also an important social group capable of political manifestation. Drawing on evidence from states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal, this book shows that despite pressures of policy convergence, labour reforms vary across states, depending on partisan governments, dynamics of interest group negotiations, and party competition. Using both qualitative and quantitative evidence, the book argues that "who governs" matters for how globalization unfolds in any society and that public policies continue to be nuanced, if not shaped, by politics.

Offering a unique examination of India’s democratic political system by using the dual premises of justice and sustainability, this book argues that India's democratic trajectory – and the sustainability of democratic governance – depends on its capacity to deliver social, economic, and ecological justice to all citizens.India has a sustained record of democracy, unparalleled among postcolonial democracies, and is counted among the five largest economies in the world. Such successes, however, have been tempered by issues of inequity, resource depletion, and climate-induced displacement. Against this backdrop, the book posits that a mere procedural understanding of democracy is increasingly inadequate to address the challenges of growing inequality or climate disruption in India. The chapters in the volume explore how parties, identity politics, gender, education, economic and foreign policies intersect with justice and sustainable goals, challenging technocratic accounts of sustainability that detach environment from society. In doing so, the book ultimately provides a nuanced understanding of the challenges faced, and strengths needed, to stabilize India’s democratic present, and to ensure its just and sustainable future.Ultimately through its exploration of the conceptual nexus between democracy, justice, and sustainability, this book will be of interest to academics and postgraduate students in the fields of South Asian politics, environmental politics, and studies of India, as well those interested in issues of democracy, justice, and sustainability more broadly.

Limits of Bargaining is an original addition to the political economy analysis of capital-labour relations in the organised industrial sector in the context of economic liberalisation in India. It analyses the dynamics of the capital-labour bargaining process in the context of the changing nature of the state and market as a result of adoption of policies of liberalisation and globalisation for the last two and half decades. It examines the nature of collective bargaining and analyses the underlying structural-political conditions that shape the capital-labour relations. Based on original empirical material from West Bengal, a state long considered pro-labour, the book presents bargaining between capital and labour as endogenous to the interplay of the triad of the market, technology and the institutions of the state. It illustrates everyday interactions between labour and management, different unions and outside actors that shape collective bargaining, and highlights the negotiation, appropriations and compromises that shape bargaining at the operational level.

Limits of Bargaining is an original addition to the political economy analysis of capital-labour relations in the organised industrial sector in the context of economic liberalisation in India. It analyses the dynamics of the capital-labour bargaining process in the context of the changing nature of the state and market as a result of adoption of policies of liberalisation and globalisation for the last two and half decades. It examines the nature of collective bargaining and analyses the underlying structural-political conditions that shape the capital-labour relations. Based on original empirical material from West Bengal, a state long considered pro-labour, the book presents bargaining between capital and labour as endogenous to the interplay of the triad of the market, technology and the institutions of the state. It illustrates everyday interactions between labour and management, different unions and outside actors that shape collective bargaining, and highlights the negotiation, appropriations and compromises that shape bargaining at the operational level.