Jurisprudence of Emergence: Neo-Liberalism and the Public as Market in India

Highlighting legal-governmental techniques by which the public is conceptualised as the market and market activity as public agency, this article poses India as a key site for a globalised analysis of neo-liberal governance. It opens a genealogy for India's emerging market' governance that extends back to colonial modernisation, highlighting ties between a coercive state, its benevolent performance and the making of a market society. Such a long view challenges the free market vs. strong state opposition so central to contemporary neo-liberal thought. It also calls attention to the nexus between powers of emergency and emerging markets. Elaborating, the essay engages Foucault's analysis of neo-liberal political economy to read recent Indian jurisprudence on financial markets, the rule of law, and public interest.