Paper short abstract:

Do democratic states use fear to govern and make citizens 'fall in line'? This paper explores this question through an ethnohistorical study in India, by looking at how a nascent democracy weaponises the fear of an unwell future (of the dissenters) to curb protest and dissent.

Paper long abstract:

Democracy has been touted as an essential condition for development. Yet, the tremors of undemocratic practices, including the routinisation of violence and fear, can be felt in the functioning of democracies across the globe. While dissent and debate have been celebrated as the pillars of democracy, the erosion of both has not gone unnoticed, especially in the case of India as it slides towards soft authoritarianism. By framing the concept of 'fear of the future', this paper explores how fear can be operationalised to dissuade young students from exercising dissent and be 'good' citizens with 'bright futures'. I argue that the notion of 'success' prompts the newly-minted citizens to stay away from protests as there can be potential harm that can befall the individual. While Butler's 'grievable bodies' as a framework helps to engender the epistemological capacity of the state to make examples of dissenters to subjectify (Foucault 1983) the mass and draw the contours of what falls within and beyond the norms defined by the state, I use Massumi's theory of 'preemption' to chart the affective plain that results in the institutionalisation of university students.