Humanities and Social Sciences

The process of transformation of Mumbai into a “world class city” has been underway for over 5 years. In this article, we discuss the “world class city” concept which is being used to support and justify major processes of socioeconomic restructuring that are taking place in Mumbai. Our argument is that these transformation are leading, both directly and indirectly, to dire consequences for the city's poorer inhabitants: the transformation of Mumbai into a “world class city” is - we argue - directly responsible for a wave of displacement of the disadvantaged and the marginal.

The cheap mobile phone is arguably the most significant personal communications device in history. In India, where caste hierarchy has reinforced power for generations, the disruptive potential of the mobile phone is even more striking than elsewhere. The book probes the whole universe of the mobile phone from the contests of great capitalists and governments to control radio frequency spectrum to the ways ordinary people build the troublesome, addictive device into their daily lives. Matt Birkinshaw hopes the broad scope and rich empirical detail found in this book will prompt a range of further, narrower, investigations in its wake.

"The term World Class City is often used in restructuring urban space. It accompanies a discourse of urban development that can be traced from rich states and the IFIs, through national and city
governments and down to police and demolition squads. Thus, spatial processes at a city level echo and mirror national and international pro-market agendas and the concomitant exclusion of poor people. Critics claim that the declaration of a World Class City is often followed by the loss of livelihoods, shelter, and basic services in favour of a vision weighted in the interests of local
and international elites. "

The issue of corruption cuts to the heart of modern ideas about politics, culture and democracy. With current UK headlines over police infiltration of anti-corruption campaigners, as well as the continuing phone-hacking and cash-for-access scandals, corruption is very much a live issue. Despite continuing concern and a multi-million dollar international industry committed to fighting it, corrupt practices can often seem impervious to change. In the first book of a new series Dan Hough sets out to answer a deceptively simple question: what are the conditions under which anti-corruption strategies can make a difference?