Politics of Collective Advocacy in India: Tools and Traps

by Deo,Nandini

• ISBN13: 9781565493285
• ISBN10: 1565493281
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-03-15
• Publisher: Lynne Rienner

Summary

India's vibrant civil society sector has become a powerful symbol of political participation in the country. It comprises a wealth of media organizations, caste and religion based associations, farmers groups, labor unions, social service organizations, and an almost limitless number of development organizations. Given this vibrancy, it is difficult to grasp the characteristics of civil society at the transnational or even the national level. Delving beneath the progressive surface to the local level, one finds a murky and multifaceted world of competing interests, compromises, uneasy alliances and erratic victories. The Politics of Collective Advocacy in Indiacritically examines the enormous gap between the ways collective action in India is studied and the ways it operates 'œon the ground'. It identifies what influences the relative success or failure of different movements; the tools activists use to overcome obstacles; the traps that derail efforts to frame, politicize, and act on certain issues and assumptions about particular forms of action. The authors synthesize the experiences of a number of organizations and movements to identify the most effective tools that civil society actors at all levels can use to achieve positive social change.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Acronyms	p. xv
Rhetoric and Reality: The Many Dimensions of Civil Society	p. 1
Transnational Women's Advocacy and Indian Agendas	p. 21
Transnational Human Rights Advocacy and the Might of Local Action	p. 51
Transnational Environmental Advocacy and Ethnic Identity in India	p. 79
Transnational Feminist and Religious Advocacy in India	p. 105
Negotiating Networks	p. 133
Glossary	p. 149
Bibliography	p. 153
Index	p. 169
About the Authors	p. 177
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