Includes bibliographical references (pages [167]-174) and index.

Even justice -- The cynicism of power -- "I am the people" -- Afterw ord: the optimism of the intellect.

"The forms of liberal government that emerged after World War II are in the midst of a profound crisis. In I Am the People, Partha Chatterj ee reconsiders the concept of popular sovereignty in order to explain t oday's dramatic outburst of movements claiming to speak for "the people ." To uncover the roots of populism, Chatterjee traces the twentieth-ce ntury trajectory of the welfare state and neoliberal reforms. Mobilizin g ideals of popular sovereignty and the emotional appeal of nationalism , anticolonial movements ushered in a world of nation-states while libe ral democracies in Europe guaranteed social rights to their citizens. B ut as neoliberal techniques shrank the scope of government, politics ga ve way to technical administration by experts. Once the state could no longer claim an emotional bond with the people, the ruling bloc lost th e consent of the governed. To fill the void, a proliferation of populis t leaders have mobilized disaffected groups into a battle that they def ine as the authentic people against entrenched oligarchy. Once politics enters a spiral of competitive populism, Chatterjee cautions, there is no easy return to pristine liberalism. Only a counter-hegemonic social force that challenges global capital and facilitates the equal partici pation of all peoples in democratic governance can achieve significant transformation. Drawing on thinkers such as Antonio Gramsci, Michel Fou cault, and Ernesto Laclau and with a particular focus on the history of populism in India, I Am the People is a sweeping, theoretically rich a ccount of the origins of today's tempests"-- Provided by publisher.