SALE ON NOW! PROMOTIONS

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

The Struggle for Hegemony in Pakistan

Fear, Desire and Revolutionary Horizons

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar (National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan)

$311.95   $249.28

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

QTY:

English
Pluto Press
20 April 2022
The collapse of neoliberal hegemony in the western world following the financial crash of 2007-8 and subsequent rise of right-wing authoritarian personalities has been described as a crisis of 'the political' in western societies. But the crisis must be seen as global, rather than focusing on the west alone.

Pakistan is experiencing rapid financialisation and rapacious capture of natural resources, overseen by the country's military establishment and state bureaucracy. Under their watch, trading and manufacturing interests, property developers and a plethora of mafias have monopolised the provision of basic needs like housing, water and food, whilst also feeding conspicuous consumption by a captive middle-class.

Aasim Sajjad-Akhtar explores neoliberal Pakistan, looking at digital technology in enhancing mass surveillance, commodification and atomisation, as well as resistance to the state and capital. Presenting a new interpretation of our global political-economic moment, he argues for an emancipatory political horizon embodied by the 'classless' subject.
By:  
Imprint:   Pluto Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 215mm,  Width: 135mm, 
Weight:   394g
ISBN:   9780745346670
ISBN 10:   0745346677
Pages:   192
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar is Associate Professor of Political Economy at the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan. He is the author of three books, most recently The Politics of Common Sense: State, Society and Culture in Pakistan. He writes for DAWN, one of Pakistan's leading newspapers.

Reviews for The Struggle for Hegemony in Pakistan: Fear, Desire and Revolutionary Horizons

'A major analysis of our world's political crisis and a brilliant critique of the ideology of middle class aspiration' -- Joel Wainwright, Professor at Ohio State University 'Shows how an aspirational idea of the middle class reinforces the subordination of dispossessed labour, ethnic minorities in peripheral territories, terrorists and deviant dissenters. This wide-ranging book is sure to stimulate critical scholarship and organic intellectual activism both inside and outside South Asia' -- Barbara Harriss-White, Emeritus Professor and Fellow, Wolfson College Oxford University 'Akhtar powerfully channels the spirit of Gramsci and Fanon to critique neoliberal hegemony in Pakistan - and to diagnose the next great battlefield for the Afro-Asian Left: the values, aspirations, and solidarities of the digitised youth across core and periphery' -- Majed Akhter, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, King's College London 'Drawing with insight on Gramsci, and located in the Global South, this accomplished book is an important contribution to the search for progressive, anti-colonial, and humanist revolutionary politics in Pakistan and beyond' -- John Chalcraft, Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science 'What is the 'political' in Pakistan, and how does this help update our theories on democratic backsliding and contemporary authoritarianism? Why do we want to think of the middle class at the centre of it all again? Read this book to find out' -- Shandana Mohmand, Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex


See Also