Youth and 'Refo-lution'? Protest Politics in India and the Global Context (SWP 34)

This paper aims to set recent research on youth, social change and politics in India into the context of the patterns and possibilities of what we may call the ‘protest politics’ of the present. While similarities across such events as the Arab Spring, the “Occupy” movement in North America or recent protests in Spain, Greece, Turkey and Brazil should not be overemphasized, the idea that values of democracy, social justice and dignity provide a common foundation is persuasive. In India, the campaign against corruption launched in 2011 by Anna Hazare that gave rise to the Aam Aadmi (common man's) party marks a dissatisfaction with “politics as usual” that is unlikely to go away. Much will depend, however, on whether the movement can build and sustain a broad-based coalition.