What are the long-term effects of colonial institutions on insurgency? Mukherjee’s study shows the historical origins of insurgency by addressing the puzzle of why the persistent Maoist insurgency, considered to be India’s biggest internal security threat, affects some districts along the central eastern corridor of India but not others. Combining archival and interview data from fieldwork in Maoist zones with analysis of an original district-level quantitative data set, Mukherjee demonstrates that different types of British colonial indirect rule set up the structural conditions of ethnic inequality and state weakness that facilitate the emergence of Maoist control. This study re-conceptualizes colonial indirect rule and also presents new data on rebel control and precolonial rebellions.
Shivaji Mukherjee (2018-2019 Kroc Institute Visiting Research Fellow) is an Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Toronto. He teaches courses on South Asian politics, civil wars and qualitative methods.What are the long-term effects of colonial institutions on insurgency? Mukherjee’s study shows the historical origins of insurgency by addressing the puzzle of why the persistent Maoist insurgency, considered to be India’s biggest internal security threat, affects some districts along the central eastern corridor of India but not others. Combining archival and interview data from fieldwork in Maoist zones with analysis of an original district-level quantitative data set, Mukherjee demonstrates that different types of British colonial indirect rule set up the structural conditions of ethnic inequality and state weakness that facilitate the emergence of Maoist control. This study re-conceptualizes colonial indirect rule and also presents new data on rebel control and precolonial rebellions. Website. smukher3@nd.edu
Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.