Parivar Raj (Rule of Family): The Role of Money and Force in the Making of Dynastic Authority

Lucia Michelutti

Studies in Indian Politics, 2018, vol. 6, issue 2, 196-208

Abstract: This article explores the making of a political dynasty in action in a district in western Uttar Pradesh. The founder of the dynasty is a dabang : a self-made violent political entrepreneur. It is argued that the figure of the dabang offers a special ethnographic entry point to contrast forms of power that are achieved versus forms of power that are acquired (inherited) and examines the existing tensions between paternalistic and autonomous models of power. Importantly, such exercise highlights the challenges that dabangs have in cultivating their individual charismatic authority and simultaneously establishing their Parivar Raj (rule of family) by using force and money. On the whole, the presented case study helps us to reflect on the very diverse ways in which dynasties form and work according to the type of authority that is passed through generations.

Keywords: Dynastic authority; charisma; performative politics; money; force (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:indpol:v:6:y:2018:i:2:p:196-208

DOI: 10.1177/2321023018797452

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