Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the political dynamics provoked by large-scale hydropower development and its governance in the Himalayan state of Sikkim.

Paper long abstract:

In the Sikkim Himalayas recent hydropower development initiatives have provoked a remarkable change of tide in the state’s political climate. Popular political voice and contestation of state-led development activities have historically been limited in the former Himalayan kingdom, where state-society relations are characterized by entrenched ethnic divisions and patronage networks. However, contentions over hydropower have resulted in an unexpected politicization of prevailing state-society-development-environment links. This article studies the (anti-)politics accompanying the planning and implementation of three hydropower projects in Sikkim, to explain these political developments, looking at the dialectic between socio-ecological impacts, government strategies and popular resistance. Touching upon to the notion of an anti-politics machine that effectively restricts political space to contest hydropower, we suggest that anti-political strategies do not merely work one way, but provoke counter-hegemonic tendencies. These are manifest in the active and effective resistance of local communities and civil society organizations. With the use of empirical material from several Sikkimese communities and activist groups affected by hydropower development, and looking at recent political events, we show how the hydropower issue has transformed prevailing state-society relations, setting in motion the state’s deadlocked democratization process.