People's Rights: Social Movements and the State in the Third World

The end of classical colonialism did not result in complete freedom for the peoples of the third world. New forms of Western domination emerged in many post- colonial states which became dependent on the first world, for their very existence. This led to the emergence of people's movements which serve to articulate the aspirations of the disadvantaged and their resistance to various forms of oppression and domination. This volume of original essays articulates the issues raised by these social movements as a democratic assertion of people's rights. The distinguished contributors challenge the dominant political theory of capitalist globalisation and reaffirm some of the primary values of the anti-colonial struggle. Rather than ES ES locating rights in the individualist tradition of Western liberalism, they are seen as an affirmation of the political conditions of human existence involving a struggle against class exploitation and social oppression. The case studies from Asia and Africa of both successful and unsuccessful movements illustrate the nature of the dilemmas faced by them while problematising the dichotomy between class politics and social movements. In the process, the contributors not only critique the dominant Western nations of rights, nationhood, civil society and citizenship but present original and alternative formulations in democratic theory transformation of the post-colonial state through liberation from new forms of bondage in order to affirm freedom and people's rights and to create a more decentralised, responsive and participatory state. Designed as a major intervention in the ongoing debate concerning the nature of the state and of civil society in the contemporary world and presenting a creative- theory of social transformation, this volume will attract a wide readership. It will interest, among others, political scientists, sociologists and students of social movements and social change as also those involved in struggles for cultural rights, civil liberties and human rights.…