The affective economy of democracy

Party politics is an affective economy in which the generation and accumulation of positive sentiments achieve electoral success. In Dehradun, North India, party workers undertake activities to build and maintain affective relationships with voters, and to generate political momentum at election time. Both party symbol and labor are required for electoral success, yet the relationship between them is unequal. Examining party politics as a system of production (of affects) and relationships (between labor and sign) reveals the exploitation of party workers through the appropriation of their labor, and the denial of the means to achieve political ambitions independently. These processes are gendered. Women provide much of the political labor on which parties rely, yet are less likely to receive political opportunity in return. The problem of women’s political underrepresentation is hence not on account of their exclusion from party politics, but due to their adverse incorporation into an affective economy.