Eventocracy: Media and Politics in Times of Aspirational Fascism

Eventocracy, or rule by event, describes the strategic manipulation of media events to gain political advantage. This essay examines the eventocratic rise of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2002 to 2014. It describes and analyzes four key events in this time period that served to establish Modi's popular base while cultivating an expanding political subjectivity around the ideologies of Hindu nationalism and economic globalization. Modi's story demonstrates how contemporary subjectivation works through the mediation of such critical events. I conclude with the question of what this link between media events and subjectivation portends in times of rising fascisms around the world.