Conflict and Collective Action The Sardar Sarovar Project in India [Hardcover]

For over two decades, large infrastructure development projects have been the subject of major controversies the world over. This book is a comprehensive account of the well-known Sardar Sarovar Project in India and the world-wide campaign against it led by the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

The book attempts to understand the unfurling crisis around the Project in order to develop a comprehensive sociology of development action that goes beyond positivist methods and evaluative frames. It deals with three main research concerns: first, the theoretical focus on actually existing development; second, a methodological query concerning critical analysis; and third, the substantive examination of the NBA and its collective action against displacement in the Narmada Valley.

Published posthumously, the book ends with the Supreme Court judgement on the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Amita Baviskar, well-known expert in the field, brings the debate up to the present in the Preface.

Foreword Amita Baviskar.  Preface.  Acknowledgements. Introduction  1. Development-induced conflicts: Concept and Analysis  2. Development, Crisis and Conflict: The Indian Experience  Design  3. The Sardar Sarovar Project and State Conflict: Development on the Narmada  Appraisal 4. The Gainers and Losers: A Cost-benefit Analysis of the SSP  Construction  5. Collective Action and the Development Discourse: Against the SSP, Against Development  Evaluation  6. The Narmada Movement and the Significance of Risk Politics  Reviews  7. Independent Juries and Reviews: Views from Above  Impact  8. Displacement and Resettlement: The Vlc†