Globalisation, environmental protest, locality and modernity

Authors
Citation
J. Bapat, Globalisation, environmental protest, locality and modernity, CONTR I SOC, 34(2), 2000, pp. 221-242
Citations number
18
Categorie Soggetti
Sociology & Antropology
Journal title
CONTRIBUTIONS TO INDIAN SOCIOLOGY
ISSN journal
00699659 → ACNP
Volume
34
Issue
2
Year of publication
2000
Pages
221 - 242
Database
ISI
SICI code
0069-9659(200005/08)34:2<221:GEPLAM>2.0.ZU;2-2
Abstract
The national identity of citizens and economic growth are given primacy by the state over the claims of the local communities to their natural resourc es. The only exception is when local claims are articulated in terms of a ' moral economy'. It is when local communities articulate their rights to loc al resource exploitation as being subsistence-based that they are able to c atapult a local issue into a national issue. The article deals with the cas e of an amusement park and related social protest. In this instance, the st rategy of articulating a local issue in environmental terms through the mas s media proved to be a partially successful strategy. It achieved three thi ngs. First, the community was effectively able to resist the domination of the promoters of the amusement park. Second, they were able to force the hi gher-level bureaucracy, in this instance a central government ministry, to address their issues. Finally, the local bureaucracy had to back the commun ity demand for a short while at least. The community could not, however; su cceed in meeting all its demands in the long run.