Arild Engelsen Ruud
Biographic Data
| ID | 368198 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Arild Engelsen Ruud |
| GIVEN NAMES | Arild Engelsen |
| FAMILY NAME | Ruud |
| SIGNATURE | RUUD A E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4545-3690 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 75 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Myths and the Legitimation of Power
This introduction reframes myth as a politically salient form of story-telling rather than a genre of ancient sacred stories. Bringing together ethnographic studies from South and Southeast Asia, the collection treats memes, rumors, fake news, and conspiracy theories as contemporary myths: narratives told as if true, embedded in complex storyworlds, and oriented towards electoral gains. Building on Bruce Lincoln and Roland Barthes' analysis of my…
The Renouncer-King
The Mamata Stories
Democratic Bricolage
Despite their dominance and control over police, courts, state institutions, media, and civil society, authoritarian governments face multifaceted internal and external contestation over their right to rule and the boundaries of autocratic control. Analysis of this opposition is wanting in the literature on democratic backsliding. Societal groups, institutions, and individuals regularly contest governments’ claim to legitimate rule, and they seek…
Subho Basu. Intimation of Revolution
Outside of Bangladesh and of the circles of South Asian studies, the details of the struggle leading up to the war of independence in 1971 are known only in broad outlines, if that. The academic scholarship on this period is also limited to brief outlines or individual biographies. Historian Subho Basu’s study is a welcome contribution to a more in-depth understanding of this history. His Intimation of Revolution is a very thorough and detailed s…
Dynastic dilemma in South Asia
This article contributes to the growing literature on political dynasticism in contemporary South Asia and shifts the focus from the much-debated national level dynasties to the usually ignored dynasties operating at subnational and regional levels. Analytically, it investigates the ‘moment’ of succession, conceptualised as the period when new heirs are actively enrolled in a dynastic formation. Such moments of succession can be perilous moments …
Strongman
Both Narendra Modi and Rodrigo Duterte stand out as leaders that epitomise their respective reigns in ways that previous leaders did not. A juxtaposition of their political personae allows us to investigate a contemporary political phenomenon, that of the elected strongman leader. This article makes three points from this juxtaposition: (a) They presided over a period of ‘democratic backsliding’. (b) They came with social media. (c) They are thei…
Poetics of Village Politics
Originally published in 2003, this volume studies village politics and the changes brought about in rural society through political developments. It focuses on the social, political and cultural circumstances of communist mobilization in rural West Bengal. It analyses the emergence of rural communism in the local context of changes in the position of women, in caste practices, in economic conditions and in new efforts to create ‘development’. It …
Poetics of Village Politics
Bangabandhu as the eternal sovereign
The omnipresence of his name and portrait in Bangladesh suggests that Father-of-the-nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – known as Bangabandhu – is more than just a national hero. He is subject of a secular deification that establishes him as the fountain of political authority and an embodiment of the sovereignty of the nation – the one without whom there can be no authority, no sovereignty, no nation. Historically he was the supreme leader of the nati…
Radical Right Islamists in Bangladesh
The radical Right in Europe and Islamist parties in Muslim countries have conventionally been portrayed as fundamentally different. The article uses material from Bangladesh to argue that the two share a wide set of characteristics and can be understood as fundamentally similar. Theoretically, we suggest a concept of the radical Right that encapsulates a set of deeper sentiments found to some extent in any culture or society. These deeper sentime…
Mafia Raj
Offering ethnographic depth that will be invaluable to students and scholars of politics and anthropology in South Asia, Mafia Raj examines the everyday workings of bosses across seven towns in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The authors craft a cogent, but uniquely multifaceted, view of the personal struggles for sovereignty of seven distinct types of strongmen as they ascend the ladder of power
The mohol
It is a common view that power in Bangladesh is exercised through patron-client forms of exchange. These patron-client relationships are held together by moral proximity and intimacy and are diffused and multidimensional. Most recently, Basu et al. (2018, Politics and Governance in Bangladesh: Uncertain Landscapes, 1-16. London: Routledge) argue for the persuasive presence of patron-client relationships and its role as the informal, 'real' struct…
Outrage
His research and teaching focuses on cultural and postcolonial theory, the politics of religious
Social Justice through Inclusion. The Consequences of Electoral Quotas in India
Political Dynasticism
Political dynasticism is a persuasive phenomenon in South Asia. Yet, while political dynasticism has received ample attention at the national level, it has been almost systematically overlooked at the regional and local levels. In this article, we argue that political dynasticism at the local level is driven by conditions that are in crucial ways different from those that animate national politics. We use case studies and insights from the availa…
The Osman Dynasty
The Osman Dynasty in Bangladesh is several generations deep and combines legitimate mobilization politics with money-making businesses and ‘godfather’ tactics. This article focuses on two aspects of dynasty formation: its relationship to the wider political context and the issue of dynastic succession. The brittle nature of the national sovereignty in a traumatized postcolonial and post-war society of 1970s and 1980s constituted an environment in…
Political Dynasty Formation in Bangladesh
Political dynasticism in South Asia and elsewhere is extensive, but poorly understood. To investigate the phenomenon, we look at political competition at the regional level in Bangladesh. We argue that mechanisms and tools in the local political culture that give rise to other aspects of South Asian politics also give rise to dynasticism. Networks of political activists, enforcers, businessmen and bureaucrats are crucial to political success. We …
Timepass and politics
Thomas Barfield
Water and the State in India
Innledning
India – en fremtidig økonomisk stormakt
Dalit Politics in India—Some Recent Studies
This review brings attention to four recent and major contributions to the study of Dalit politics in India. Dalit politics, the politics that concerns those groups formerly known as untouchables, is foremost expressed in the increased role of Dalit political parties in the populous North India, and indeed in Indian politics. But academic interest also emerges from the fact that these groups have come to display a visible new assertion on the par…
Corruption as Everyday Practice. The Public—Private Divide in Local Indian Society
Drawing on ethnographic material from West Bengal (India), the article investigates the practice of corruption. Several points are made on the relevance of ethnographic investigation to an understanding of the practice of corruption. Networking is an everyday coping strategy that does not distinguish between the private and public roles of the individual. Although such distinctions may be well known, practices such as networking and the moral wei…
Corruption as Everyday Practice. The Public—Private Divide in Local Indian Society
Drawing on ethnographic material from West Bengal (India), the article investigates the practice of corruption. Several points are made on the relevance of ethnographic investigation to an understanding of the practice of corruption. Networking is an everyday coping strategy that does not distinguish between the private and public roles of the individual. Although such distinctions may be well known, practices such as networking and the moral wei…
Political Dynasticism
Political dynasticism is a persuasive phenomenon in South Asia. Yet, while political dynasticism has received ample attention at the national level, it has been almost systematically overlooked at the regional and local levels. In this article, we argue that political dynasticism at the local level is driven by conditions that are in crucial ways different from those that animate national politics. We use case studies and insights from the availa…
The mohol
It is a common view that power in Bangladesh is exercised through patron-client forms of exchange. These patron-client relationships are held together by moral proximity and intimacy and are diffused and multidimensional. Most recently, Basu et al. (2018, Politics and Governance in Bangladesh: Uncertain Landscapes, 1-16. London: Routledge) argue for the persuasive presence of patron-client relationships and its role as the informal, 'real' struct…
Political Dynasty Formation in Bangladesh
Political dynasticism in South Asia and elsewhere is extensive, but poorly understood. To investigate the phenomenon, we look at political competition at the regional level in Bangladesh. We argue that mechanisms and tools in the local political culture that give rise to other aspects of South Asian politics also give rise to dynasticism. Networks of political activists, enforcers, businessmen and bureaucrats are crucial to political success. We …
The Osman Dynasty
The Osman Dynasty in Bangladesh is several generations deep and combines legitimate mobilization politics with money-making businesses and ‘godfather’ tactics. This article focuses on two aspects of dynasty formation: its relationship to the wider political context and the issue of dynastic succession. The brittle nature of the national sovereignty in a traumatized postcolonial and post-war society of 1970s and 1980s constituted an environment in…
The Indian Hierarchy
The Subaltern studies project has been a major contribution towards rethinking the role of groups such as peasants, lower castes, labourers or women in forming the course of Indian history. The project has also brought the issues of culture, ideology and consciousness to the forefront of Indian history writing. Although the importance of non-elite action on the historical developments of the Indian independence movement has already been noted by …
Radical Right Islamists in Bangladesh
The radical Right in Europe and Islamist parties in Muslim countries have conventionally been portrayed as fundamentally different. The article uses material from Bangladesh to argue that the two share a wide set of characteristics and can be understood as fundamentally similar. Theoretically, we suggest a concept of the radical Right that encapsulates a set of deeper sentiments found to some extent in any culture or society. These deeper sentime…
Dynastic dilemma in South Asia
This article contributes to the growing literature on political dynasticism in contemporary South Asia and shifts the focus from the much-debated national level dynasties to the usually ignored dynasties operating at subnational and regional levels. Analytically, it investigates the ‘moment’ of succession, conceptualised as the period when new heirs are actively enrolled in a dynastic formation. Such moments of succession can be perilous moments …
Strongman
Both Narendra Modi and Rodrigo Duterte stand out as leaders that epitomise their respective reigns in ways that previous leaders did not. A juxtaposition of their political personae allows us to investigate a contemporary political phenomenon, that of the elected strongman leader. This article makes three points from this juxtaposition: (a) They presided over a period of ‘democratic backsliding’. (b) They came with social media. (c) They are thei…
Bangabandhu as the eternal sovereign
The omnipresence of his name and portrait in Bangladesh suggests that Father-of-the-nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – known as Bangabandhu – is more than just a national hero. He is subject of a secular deification that establishes him as the fountain of political authority and an embodiment of the sovereignty of the nation – the one without whom there can be no authority, no sovereignty, no nation. Historically he was the supreme leader of the nati…
Embedded Bengal? The Case for Politics
In his study, Embedded Autonomy (1995), Peter Evans introduces us to the vista of the best-functioning developmentist state. This is one which is embedded in society, that is, it retains close contacts to cru-cial societal groups together with which the state may pursue its deve
The Renouncer-King
Democratic Bricolage
Despite their dominance and control over police, courts, state institutions, media, and civil society, authoritarian governments face multifaceted internal and external contestation over their right to rule and the boundaries of autocratic control. Analysis of this opposition is wanting in the literature on democratic backsliding. Societal groups, institutions, and individuals regularly contest governments’ claim to legitimate rule, and they seek…
Social Justice through Inclusion. The Consequences of Electoral Quotas in India
State and Society Interaction Without a ‘Civil Society’ or a ‘Public Sphere’? Some Suggestions from Rural India
Arild Engelsen Ruud, ‘State and Society Interaction Without a “Civil Society” or a “Public Sphere”? Some Suggestions from Rural India’, Forum for Development Studies, 1996: 2, pp. 259–285. The article suggests that in spite of the absence of what we normally associate with the categories of civil society and public sphere there might still be political processes in non-European societies that perform the tasks of mediation and accommodation betwe…
State and Society Interaction Without a ‘Civil Society’ or a ‘Public Sphere’? Some Suggestions from Rural India
Arild Engelsen Ruud, ‘State and Society Interaction Without a “Civil Society” or a “Public Sphere”? Some Suggestions from Rural India’, Forum for Development Studies, 1996: 2, pp. 259–285. The article suggests that in spite of the absence of what we normally associate with the categories of civil society and public sphere there might still be political processes in non-European societies that perform the tasks of mediation and accommodation betwe…
Of Novels and Dramas
Embedded Bengal? The Case for Politics
In his study, Embedded Autonomy (1995), Peter Evans introduces us to the vista of the best-functioning developmentist state. This is one which is embedded in society, that is, it retains close contacts to cru-cial societal groups together with which the state may pursue its deve
The Indian Hierarchy
The Subaltern studies project has been a major contribution towards rethinking the role of groups such as peasants, lower castes, labourers or women in forming the course of Indian history. The project has also brought the issues of culture, ideology and consciousness to the forefront of Indian history writing. Although the importance of non-elite action on the historical developments of the Indian independence movement has already been noted by …
Corruption as Everyday Practice. The Public—Private Divide in Local Indian Society
Drawing on ethnographic material from West Bengal (India), the article investigates the practice of corruption. Several points are made on the relevance of ethnographic investigation to an understanding of the practice of corruption. Networking is an everyday coping strategy that does not distinguish between the private and public roles of the individual. Although such distinctions may be well known, practices such as networking and the moral wei…
Dalit Politics in India—Some Recent Studies
This review brings attention to four recent and major contributions to the study of Dalit politics in India. Dalit politics, the politics that concerns those groups formerly known as untouchables, is foremost expressed in the increased role of Dalit political parties in the populous North India, and indeed in Indian politics. But academic interest also emerges from the fact that these groups have come to display a visible new assertion on the par…
India – en fremtidig økonomisk stormakt
Innledning
Thomas Barfield
Water and the State in India
Timepass and politics
Political Dynasty Formation in Bangladesh
Political dynasticism in South Asia and elsewhere is extensive, but poorly understood. To investigate the phenomenon, we look at political competition at the regional level in Bangladesh. We argue that mechanisms and tools in the local political culture that give rise to other aspects of South Asian politics also give rise to dynasticism. Networks of political activists, enforcers, businessmen and bureaucrats are crucial to political success. We …
Social Justice through Inclusion. The Consequences of Electoral Quotas in India
Political Dynasticism
Political dynasticism is a persuasive phenomenon in South Asia. Yet, while political dynasticism has received ample attention at the national level, it has been almost systematically overlooked at the regional and local levels. In this article, we argue that political dynasticism at the local level is driven by conditions that are in crucial ways different from those that animate national politics. We use case studies and insights from the availa…
The Osman Dynasty
The Osman Dynasty in Bangladesh is several generations deep and combines legitimate mobilization politics with money-making businesses and ‘godfather’ tactics. This article focuses on two aspects of dynasty formation: its relationship to the wider political context and the issue of dynastic succession. The brittle nature of the national sovereignty in a traumatized postcolonial and post-war society of 1970s and 1980s constituted an environment in…
Outrage
His research and teaching focuses on cultural and postcolonial theory, the politics of religious
Mafia Raj
Offering ethnographic depth that will be invaluable to students and scholars of politics and anthropology in South Asia, Mafia Raj examines the everyday workings of bosses across seven towns in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The authors craft a cogent, but uniquely multifaceted, view of the personal struggles for sovereignty of seven distinct types of strongmen as they ascend the ladder of power
The mohol
It is a common view that power in Bangladesh is exercised through patron-client forms of exchange. These patron-client relationships are held together by moral proximity and intimacy and are diffused and multidimensional. Most recently, Basu et al. (2018, Politics and Governance in Bangladesh: Uncertain Landscapes, 1-16. London: Routledge) argue for the persuasive presence of patron-client relationships and its role as the informal, 'real' struct…
Radical Right Islamists in Bangladesh
The radical Right in Europe and Islamist parties in Muslim countries have conventionally been portrayed as fundamentally different. The article uses material from Bangladesh to argue that the two share a wide set of characteristics and can be understood as fundamentally similar. Theoretically, we suggest a concept of the radical Right that encapsulates a set of deeper sentiments found to some extent in any culture or society. These deeper sentime…
Poetics of Village Politics
Originally published in 2003, this volume studies village politics and the changes brought about in rural society through political developments. It focuses on the social, political and cultural circumstances of communist mobilization in rural West Bengal. It analyses the emergence of rural communism in the local context of changes in the position of women, in caste practices, in economic conditions and in new efforts to create ‘development’. It …
Poetics of Village Politics
Bangabandhu as the eternal sovereign
The omnipresence of his name and portrait in Bangladesh suggests that Father-of-the-nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – known as Bangabandhu – is more than just a national hero. He is subject of a secular deification that establishes him as the fountain of political authority and an embodiment of the sovereignty of the nation – the one without whom there can be no authority, no sovereignty, no nation. Historically he was the supreme leader of the nati…
Subho Basu. Intimation of Revolution
Outside of Bangladesh and of the circles of South Asian studies, the details of the struggle leading up to the war of independence in 1971 are known only in broad outlines, if that. The academic scholarship on this period is also limited to brief outlines or individual biographies. Historian Subho Basu’s study is a welcome contribution to a more in-depth understanding of this history. His Intimation of Revolution is a very thorough and detailed s…
Dynastic dilemma in South Asia
This article contributes to the growing literature on political dynasticism in contemporary South Asia and shifts the focus from the much-debated national level dynasties to the usually ignored dynasties operating at subnational and regional levels. Analytically, it investigates the ‘moment’ of succession, conceptualised as the period when new heirs are actively enrolled in a dynastic formation. Such moments of succession can be perilous moments …
Strongman
Both Narendra Modi and Rodrigo Duterte stand out as leaders that epitomise their respective reigns in ways that previous leaders did not. A juxtaposition of their political personae allows us to investigate a contemporary political phenomenon, that of the elected strongman leader. This article makes three points from this juxtaposition: (a) They presided over a period of ‘democratic backsliding’. (b) They came with social media. (c) They are thei…
Political science (24 works) · Law (19 works) · Politics (19 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Law (15 works) · Political economy (11 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (6 works) · Bangladesh Politics, Society, and Development (6 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · History (6 works)