State-Society Relations in South Asia

Abstract

South Asia, a region comprising roughly one-fifth of the world’s population, is home to some of the most diverse nations in the contemporary world, encompassing social cleavages across multiple dimensions. A critical facet of this diversity is that it has persisted, even as state-builders, starting from the precolonial period, have sought to impose the writ of centralized authority to make such diversity legible and governable. Not surprisingly, therefore, the region offers a fascinating vantage point for social scientists to develop and test theories of a range of state-society linkages and how these reconstitute our understandings of both “state” and “society.” This bibliography aims to provide a window into this continuously evolving body of research. As with any such endeavor, it is not possible to capture the vast depth and breadth of this research within the confines of a single work. Hence, the goal here is to introduce academics and policy practitioners to some of the key conceptual developments and empirical findings in the field. In what follows, the cited works have been classified under the following headings: (i) Capital-State Linkages, (ii) Labor-State Linkages, (iii) Land-State Linkages, (iv) Party-State Linkages, (v) Region-State Linkages, (vi) Caste-State Linkages, (vii) Migrant-State Linkages, (viii) Gender-State Linkages, (ix) Breakdown of State-Society Relations, and (x) Law and State-Society Relations. This schematic was adopted to underscore the sheer variety of social actors and institutions that impinge on the exercise of state power in the region. The concluding section offers an overview of the core academic Journals in the field.