GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN FICTION: READING MOHSIN HAMID’S NOVELS THROUGH HELD AND MCGREW’S FRAMEWORK

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate how Mohsin Hamid’s selected novels reflect and critique the dynamics of global governance in the 21st century. Hamid’s novels offer a fertile ground for analyzing the lived experience of global governance. The present study is qualitative in nature. It incorporates the concept of global governance as theorized by David held and Anthony McGrew to analyze the novels. The findings suggest that Mohsin Hamid has used his fiction as a tool to foreground the issues of economic disparity, cultural hybridity and negotiations of borders. Through the portrayal of dynamic characters the novelist reveals how individuals in this postmodern age are caught between local identities and transnational pressures. In Moth Smoke the protagonist Daru grappled with the globally connected elite. The Reluctant Fundamentalist portrays how the protagonist Changez struggles with the US-led global hegemony after the incident of 9/11. In How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia the protagonist’s rags to riches journey highlights how global market logics and development discourses govern individual aspirations and urban transformation. Exit West portrays the struggles of a couple Saeed and Nadia as they migrate through black doors towards the globalized world. These black doors symbolize the permeability and contestation of borders. Through these interconnected stories Mohsin Hamid illustrates how global governance shapes economic disparities, mobility and shifting cultural identities in this postmodern age. This study emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of the research, bridging political theory and literary studies.