PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Representation & Participation
Write an essay on ‘New Social Movements’ in developing countries.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
not every demand is material → Marxist reductionism fails → protest shifts to identity, rights, environment Habermas: revolt against the over-sized, over-rational state intruding on private life → but in the developing world the shift is only partial
Body flow
organisation = decentralisation + participative, middle class & students (Mukherjee and Ramaswamy) → range: youth / feminist / ecological / civil-rights → distinctive Southern face is ecological → Guha’s empty-stomach South vs full-stomach North + Shiva’s resistance to global exploitation → grounding: Tiger Leaping Gorge China (2007), Narmada Bachao, Kudankulam → but no independent evolution → still basic needs, methods identical to old (strikes, dharnas), scope tied to direct concerns
Counter-view
Asef Bayat: don’t romanticise → without real political- economic change, larger goals stay out of reach
Conclusion routes
a hybrid — new aspirations resting on an old material base still incipient — livelihood dominates, democracy stays procedural (only the vote)
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
