The Dravidian Model Interpreting the Political Economy of Tamil Nadu

This book adds to the growing literature on dynamics of regional development in the global South by mapping the politics and processes contributing to the distinct developmental trajectory of Tamil Nadu, southern India. Using a novel interpretive framework and drawing upon fresh data and literature, it seeks to explain the social and economic development of the state in terms of populist mobilization against caste-based inequalities. Dominant policy narratives on inclusive growth assume a sequential logic whereby returns to growth are used to invest in socially inclusive policies. By focusing more on redistribution of access to opportunities in the modern economy, Tamil Nadu has sustained a relatively more inclusive and dynamic growth process. Democratization of economic opportunities has made such broad-based growth possible even as interventions in social sectors reinforce the former. The book thus also speaks to the nascent literature on the relationship between the logic of modernisation and status based inequalities in the global South.

Abbreviations, List of tables, List of figures, 1. The Dravidian model: an introduction; 2. Conceptions of power and mobilisation: a framework for analysis; 3. Democratising education; 4. Democratising care 5. Broadening growth and democratising capital; 6. Identity-based mobilisation and outcomes in rural Tamil Nadu; 7. Institutions, interventions and urban labour; 8. Fissures, limits and possible futures; Appendices; References.

Kalaiyarasan A. is a Fulbright-Nehru post-doctoral fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs in Brown University and an Assistant Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India. His academic interest lies in the intersection of caste and economic processes in India.
Vijayabaskar M. is Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai. His research centers on political economy of development with a focus on labour and land markets, rural-urban linkages, transformations and their intersections with policy-making.