Contested credibility economies of nuclear power in India

STS scholars studying anti-nuclear activism in the context of nations in the Global North have observed the critical role of science to mediate relations of domination and resistance. Through a historical examination of anti-nuclear activism in India, this article investigates the instrumentalization of science as a liberal democratic rationality. In doing so, the article shows how elite Indian activists – many of whom are scientists, engineers, journalists and academic professionals – will never be seen as scientifically knowledgeable in nuclear matters, because of their non-state educational pedigrees. If activists cannot hold the state accountable through science, they have attempted to anticipate what other kinds of arguments and modes of contention may gain traction. As such, they have deployed more ‘guerilla’ tactics grounded in bureaucratic rationalities in the hopes of installing themselves as alternate sources of expertise in India’s nuclear landscape.The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers as well as Sergio Sismondo for their valuable and thoughtful comments and editing. She would also like to thank Clark Miller, Rahul Mukherjee and Debjani Chakravarty for reading versions of this article over the past three years. Funding: American Society for Indian Studies, the American Council of Learned Societies and Arizona State University