Harnessing the State

Building on the work of key twentieth-century US and Indian thinkers, a bold argument that oppressed groups can—and should—make use of state power to create truly democratic societies.

Group-based social oppression, along lines such as caste in India and race in the United States, is a persistent problem in nominally democratic countries. Unsurprisingly, many citizens are skeptical that the state can effectively address the problem. Pro-democracy scholars and activists often argue that the state is just a tool of society’s most powerful interests, who will stifle any attempted reform.