Comparative Assessments of Indian Democracy

Abstract

In this short note, I wish to underline some of the issues relating to teaching Indian democracy in a comparative perspective. I will underline my own experiences of teaching Indian democracy to a largely Western audience in the United Kingdom. I have been employed, first as a teaching fellow, then as a postdoctoral research fellow and finally as a lecturer in several different British universities. The core substantive part of my teaching has been to teach courses on Indian democracy to undergraduate students. I have taught the Indian experience with democracy as part of a larger course on democratic development to firstand second-year undergraduate students. However, the bulk of my teaching on Indian democracy has been as a specialist third-year course on Indian democracy and Indian politics. In all the classes I have taught on Indian democracy, the main aim has been to understand how India’s experiences inform, and revises, major theories of comparative politics, be it democratic consolidation, economic development, or political violence. At the same time, I have attempted to debunk the picture of Indian citizens and its voters as non-strategic, irrational agents. Finally, in this note, I will also underline how Indian democracy and its politics are very good examples of teaching several research design elements. In this note, I will pick different examples from my own teaching of Indian democracy to underline how Indian politics and its democracy challenges some of the core theories in comparative politics. I will also highlight why India’s exceptionalism is not down to non-strategic, irrational voters and how all this helps drive through several important research design themes.