Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/23210230231166193
S. Shastri
Democracy has become an accepted lexicon among ruling elites and the general public through the twentieth century. However, there are also doubts about its strength in the current century. Looking at survey data, this article attempts a first-cut analysis of citizens’ commitment to democracy. Taking an elected government as the primary principle of democracy, do citizens make concessions to non-elected decision-making processes? This article focuses on the five countries of South Asia to answer this question and arrives at the conclusion that there is often a large gap between a broader acceptance of democratic government as a principle and the more nuanced acceptance of democratic government as a necessary element of democracy.
{"title":"Democracy in South Asia: An Expanding ‘Imagination’","authors":"S. Shastri","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166193","url":null,"abstract":"Democracy has become an accepted lexicon among ruling elites and the general public through the twentieth century. However, there are also doubts about its strength in the current century. Looking at survey data, this article attempts a first-cut analysis of citizens’ commitment to democracy. Taking an elected government as the primary principle of democracy, do citizens make concessions to non-elected decision-making processes? This article focuses on the five countries of South Asia to answer this question and arrives at the conclusion that there is often a large gap between a broader acceptance of democratic government as a principle and the more nuanced acceptance of democratic government as a necessary element of democracy.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"39 - 48"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44929203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book review: Mukulika Banerjee, Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India","authors":"Nirvan Pradhan","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166178","url":null,"abstract":"Mukulika Banerjee, Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India. Delhi: Oxford University Press. 2022. 256pp., ₹995.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"154 - 155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41997748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/23210230231168932
Rajeshwari Deshpande
This special section on comparative assessments of Indian democracy consists of three articles—comparing Indian experiences of democracy with other countries of the global south. There were three broad starting points to this exercise. The first, and the most obvious was about celebrating Indian democracy @75. However, also obviously, the section moves beyond the occasional relevance of such celebrations. Instead, it looks upon the current moment in the journey of Indian democracy (and that of global democracies) as an important vantage point to undertake comparative assessments of the working of democracy. On one hand, in the aftermath of successive waves of democratization all over the world— we see the successful journey of Indian democracy as a moment that prompts us to revisit the dominant, orthodox and selective readings of democracy. The established democratic theories of the global North often legitimize and celebrate binaries in their understandings of the idea of democracy. Our larger ambition in putting together this section is to transcend these binaries and instead encourage more contextual readings of the ideas and practices of democracy. In the initial, inaugural phases, the functioning of Indian democracy attracted two sets of responses from scholars and observers. The first was dismissive of it and apprehensive of its possible successes given the context of poverty in India and the presence of deeply entrenched systemic inequalities. Later on, the track record of an uninterrupted routine of electoral democracy in India led to another set of responses, which underlined its uniqueness among the democracies of the global south and celebrated Indian exceptionalism. Fortunately, the expansion and the deepening of Indian democracy—especially over the last few decades have led to more vibrant, dynamic and nuanced assessments of Indian democracy and the current exercise hopes to contribute to them. And yet, there are hardly any comparative studies on Indian democracy. Barring a few notable exceptions, Indian democracy (as well as other democratic systems) is either studied in isolation or, on the other hand, comparisons are undertaken at the global level using large N research design woven around set parameters of assessment. There is no doubt that such ‘variable-oriented’ cross-national analyses of processes of democratization are useful and crucial for theory development. At the same time, as the ideas and practices of democracy acquire vibrant contextual meanings across different parts of the world, detailed and intricate case studies also play an important role in such assessments. The present section adopts such a ‘case-oriented’ approach in its comparative assessments of Indian democracy. Institutions, processes, (material) interests and ideas often become key aspects of the shaping of any democratic system. The essays presented here reflect upon some such select themes to comment upon the nature of Indian democracy. We, at SIP, (r
{"title":"Note on Special Section: Comparative Assessments of Indian Democracy","authors":"Rajeshwari Deshpande","doi":"10.1177/23210230231168932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231168932","url":null,"abstract":"This special section on comparative assessments of Indian democracy consists of three articles—comparing Indian experiences of democracy with other countries of the global south. There were three broad starting points to this exercise. The first, and the most obvious was about celebrating Indian democracy @75. However, also obviously, the section moves beyond the occasional relevance of such celebrations. Instead, it looks upon the current moment in the journey of Indian democracy (and that of global democracies) as an important vantage point to undertake comparative assessments of the working of democracy. On one hand, in the aftermath of successive waves of democratization all over the world— we see the successful journey of Indian democracy as a moment that prompts us to revisit the dominant, orthodox and selective readings of democracy. The established democratic theories of the global North often legitimize and celebrate binaries in their understandings of the idea of democracy. Our larger ambition in putting together this section is to transcend these binaries and instead encourage more contextual readings of the ideas and practices of democracy. In the initial, inaugural phases, the functioning of Indian democracy attracted two sets of responses from scholars and observers. The first was dismissive of it and apprehensive of its possible successes given the context of poverty in India and the presence of deeply entrenched systemic inequalities. Later on, the track record of an uninterrupted routine of electoral democracy in India led to another set of responses, which underlined its uniqueness among the democracies of the global south and celebrated Indian exceptionalism. Fortunately, the expansion and the deepening of Indian democracy—especially over the last few decades have led to more vibrant, dynamic and nuanced assessments of Indian democracy and the current exercise hopes to contribute to them. And yet, there are hardly any comparative studies on Indian democracy. Barring a few notable exceptions, Indian democracy (as well as other democratic systems) is either studied in isolation or, on the other hand, comparisons are undertaken at the global level using large N research design woven around set parameters of assessment. There is no doubt that such ‘variable-oriented’ cross-national analyses of processes of democratization are useful and crucial for theory development. At the same time, as the ideas and practices of democracy acquire vibrant contextual meanings across different parts of the world, detailed and intricate case studies also play an important role in such assessments. The present section adopts such a ‘case-oriented’ approach in its comparative assessments of Indian democracy. Institutions, processes, (material) interests and ideas often become key aspects of the shaping of any democratic system. The essays presented here reflect upon some such select themes to comment upon the nature of Indian democracy. We, at SIP, (r","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"8 - 9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41342106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/23210230231166185
Ankur Tamuli Phukan
Jelle J. P. Wouters, ed. Vernacular Politics in Northeast India: Democracy, Ethnicity & Indigeneity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2022, 426 pages, ₹1,638.
{"title":"Book review: Jelle J. P. Wouters, ed. Vernacular Politics in Northeast India: Democracy, Ethnicity & Indigeneity","authors":"Ankur Tamuli Phukan","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166185","url":null,"abstract":"Jelle J. P. Wouters, ed. Vernacular Politics in Northeast India: Democracy, Ethnicity & Indigeneity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2022, 426 pages, ₹1,638.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"150 - 152"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46296259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/23210230231166198
Shivani Kapoor
Subrata K. Mitra, Governance by Stealth: The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Making of the Indian State. Delhi: Oxford University Press. 2021. 481 pages. ₹476.
{"title":"Book review: Subrata K. Mitra, Governance by Stealth: The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Making of the Indian State","authors":"Shivani Kapoor","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166198","url":null,"abstract":"Subrata K. Mitra, Governance by Stealth: The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Making of the Indian State. Delhi: Oxford University Press. 2021. 481 pages. ₹476.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"152 - 153"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47918369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book review: Anupama Roy, Citizenship Regimes, Law, and Belonging: The CAA and the NRC","authors":"Raeesa Vakil","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166188","url":null,"abstract":"Anupama Roy, Citizenship Regimes, Law, and Belonging: The CAA and the NRC. India: Oxford University Press. 2022. 288 pages. ₹1,495.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"155 - 157"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42355295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/23210230231166190
Chiangmong Khiamniungan
This article seeks to outline the history of the addition of references to what is often considered Dr B. R. Ambedkar’s magnum opus, his posthumously published The Buddha and His Dhamma (1957). It discusses the original edition, the 1961 Hindi translation by Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan, which was the first to add references, the 1992 reprint of the original edition as Volume 11 of the collection Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches published by the Government of Maharashtra, and the 2011 ‘critical edition’ edited by Aakash Singh Rathore and Ajay Verma and published by Oxford University Press. Through a critical appraisal of these editions, the article aims to press the general need turned urgent for scholars of Ambedkar to produce competent scholarly editions of Ambedkar’s texts, especially his later writings, which were left incomplete and unpublished during his lifetime.
{"title":"On the Editions of Dr B. R. Ambedkar’s The Buddha and His Dhamma","authors":"Chiangmong Khiamniungan","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166190","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166190","url":null,"abstract":"This article seeks to outline the history of the addition of references to what is often considered Dr B. R. Ambedkar’s magnum opus, his posthumously published The Buddha and His Dhamma (1957). It discusses the original edition, the 1961 Hindi translation by Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan, which was the first to add references, the 1992 reprint of the original edition as Volume 11 of the collection Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches published by the Government of Maharashtra, and the 2011 ‘critical edition’ edited by Aakash Singh Rathore and Ajay Verma and published by Oxford University Press. Through a critical appraisal of these editions, the article aims to press the general need turned urgent for scholars of Ambedkar to produce competent scholarly editions of Ambedkar’s texts, especially his later writings, which were left incomplete and unpublished during his lifetime.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"85 - 101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49615289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/23210230231166191
Patrick Heller
Despite being among the most successful democracies in the Global South, India, Brazil and South Africa have all recently experienced democratic crises. I argue that these democratic crises result from the formation of social coalitions that have been willing to subvert democratic institutions and practices in order to preserve or restore their social and economic privileges. In structural terms, these reactions are tied to the unresolved problem of the incorporation of popular classes. This problem has in turn been mediated by the balance between political and civil society. In India and South Africa that balance has favoured the dominance of mass-based nationalist parties that have thwarted democratic deepening. In Brazil, a more balanced relationship between civil society and political society has favoured the partial incorporation of the popular classes.
{"title":"Parties, Civil Society and Democratic Deepening: Comparing India, Brazil and South Africa","authors":"Patrick Heller","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166191","url":null,"abstract":"Despite being among the most successful democracies in the Global South, India, Brazil and South Africa have all recently experienced democratic crises. I argue that these democratic crises result from the formation of social coalitions that have been willing to subvert democratic institutions and practices in order to preserve or restore their social and economic privileges. In structural terms, these reactions are tied to the unresolved problem of the incorporation of popular classes. This problem has in turn been mediated by the balance between political and civil society. In India and South Africa that balance has favoured the dominance of mass-based nationalist parties that have thwarted democratic deepening. In Brazil, a more balanced relationship between civil society and political society has favoured the partial incorporation of the popular classes.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"10 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43787913","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/23210230231166454
C. Jaffrelot, Mahesh Langa
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) victory in the 2022 Gujarat state elections not only broke a record but also reversed the trend that was resulting in Congress’ growing effectiveness election after election. This time, the Congress registered its worse performance ever, largely because of the entry of a new player, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but also because of the progress of the BJP. The ruling party is stronger than ever because of its ideology, its organization and, more importantly, its leader, Narendra Modi. These assets allow the BJP to get support across caste, classes and sub-regions like never before. Its rise, however, challenges democracy in different ways, not only its ‘OBCisation’ is not a synonym of plebeinization in terms of class, but its strategy of equating religious majority and political majority and to systematically undermine the opposition tends to make the BJP ‘the only game in town’.
{"title":"Gujarat 2022 Elections: Explaining BJP’s Hegemony","authors":"C. Jaffrelot, Mahesh Langa","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166454","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166454","url":null,"abstract":"The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) victory in the 2022 Gujarat state elections not only broke a record but also reversed the trend that was resulting in Congress’ growing effectiveness election after election. This time, the Congress registered its worse performance ever, largely because of the entry of a new player, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but also because of the progress of the BJP. The ruling party is stronger than ever because of its ideology, its organization and, more importantly, its leader, Narendra Modi. These assets allow the BJP to get support across caste, classes and sub-regions like never before. Its rise, however, challenges democracy in different ways, not only its ‘OBCisation’ is not a synonym of plebeinization in terms of class, but its strategy of equating religious majority and political majority and to systematically undermine the opposition tends to make the BJP ‘the only game in town’.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"118 - 133"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49483854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/23210230231166183
Narendar Pani, Debosree Banerjee, P. Thomas
The relationship between the local and the national in Indian politics has taken a variety of forms, from secessionist tendencies to agitational politics around specific issues. The course of this relationship is typically explored through electoral performance, primarily whether a party wins sufficient seats to form the government. There is much less attention paid to the relationship between votes and seats. This has led to some questions not getting the attention they deserve, particularly whether the first-past-the-post electoral system that India uses is entirely neutral in the dynamic between the local and the national. This article addresses this question by developing a model that captures the effects of the share of the votes of national parties, as well as the concentration of national and local votes, on the performance of national and local parties. The empirical evaluation of this system points to an overall national bias, which is eroded over time by the emergence of regionally dominant local parties.
{"title":"The National Bias of India’s First-Past-The-Post System","authors":"Narendar Pani, Debosree Banerjee, P. Thomas","doi":"10.1177/23210230231166183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231166183","url":null,"abstract":"The relationship between the local and the national in Indian politics has taken a variety of forms, from secessionist tendencies to agitational politics around specific issues. The course of this relationship is typically explored through electoral performance, primarily whether a party wins sufficient seats to form the government. There is much less attention paid to the relationship between votes and seats. This has led to some questions not getting the attention they deserve, particularly whether the first-past-the-post electoral system that India uses is entirely neutral in the dynamic between the local and the national. This article addresses this question by developing a model that captures the effects of the share of the votes of national parties, as well as the concentration of national and local votes, on the performance of national and local parties. The empirical evaluation of this system points to an overall national bias, which is eroded over time by the emergence of regionally dominant local parties.","PeriodicalId":42918,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Indian Politics","volume":"11 1","pages":"49 - 65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44175518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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