Development

What made India embrace the developmental state?

Chandan Gowda presents his book Longing for an Elsewhere, arguing that this decision was born not from mid-twentieth century decolonization, but rather from colonized elites’ earlier hunger for civilizational recognition through progress. The talk is followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A.

Beyond repositioning when development discourse was born, the book argues that culture actively shapes what is often treated as a purely economic process. This is examined through the case of Mysore, the princely state that pursued its own path to…