Critical geopolitics and terrains of resistance

This paper examines the contributions that can be made to critical geopolitics by the study of social movements. It argues that such a study would de(centre) analytical focus away from an exclusive concern with the machinations of the state and would investigate how social movements challenge state-centred notions of hegemony, consent and power and contest the colonization of the ‘political’ by the state. In particular, the paper argues for 1. (1) the location of social movements within a contested web of power/knowledge relations; 2. (2) the theoretical analysis of social movements as multiplicities explored through the concept of a terrain of resistance; and 3. (3) a critical identification with social movements which would include the privileging and understanding of the voices of social movements as understood from the perspectives of the participants and a critical engagement with oppositional forces to the state. To contextualize these arguments, the paper examines resistances articulated by some contemporary South Asian social movements.