Author: Paul Wallace
Ramashray Roy/
Editor(s): Paul Wallace / Ramashray Roy
Publisher: Sage Publications
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 443
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0761995986
Description
Bringing together reputed scholars from around the world, this volume describes and explains many facets of India's current political landscape - in particular, the recent emergence of a complex multi-party system at the national level.
The Parliamentary elections of 1999 - India's last elections in the 20th century - serve as a useful prism through which to examine the changing nature of Indian politics, both at the state and national levels, since independence in 1947.
The first two chapters focus on the broader issues. They review 50 years of national politics showing the resilience of multiculturalism and emphasizing the normative content of elections in terms of what they contribute to the democratic development of India. These chapters show that while multi-party based alliances involve political fusion they also encourage political fission as splinters groups emerge to become small parties and then claim a share in power.
The ensuring 15 chapters examine these developments and processes at the state level. The contributors show that considerations of power rather than ideology have come to dominate coalition tactics. While each state has its own particularities, they largely mirror that national scene in terms of their political configurations. State-Society relations in Kashmir, the role of caste in Bihar, and the politics of secessionism in Punjab are some of the specific issues taken up.
The contributors examine the role played by factors such as caste, ethnicity and religion as also the increasing communalization of politics. They show that leadership, rather than the institutionalization of parties, appears to be playing an increasingly important role in Indian politics while maintain that one-party dominance appears to be a thing of the past.
Each chapter is rich in both empirical analysis and election data culled from primary sources. Over all, the volume provides many insights into India's current political reality and will be of considerable interest to a wide readership. It will also serve as supplementary reading for courses in Indian politics, political sociology, and Psephology.
Contents
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
INTRODUCTION:
The New national Party System and State Politics
How Contention Promotes Multicultural Resilience:
India's Formative Decades
Beyond Ethnicity and Populism?
Changes and Continuities in Tamil Nadu's Electoral Map
Political Self-Destruction in Karnataka, 1999
Party Competition and Strategies Mobilization:
An Analysis of Social Coalitions in Andhra Pradesh
The Continuous election Campaign in Goa
Elections 1999:
A "Yes Vote" for Defectors in Goa?
Maharashtra: Fragmented Marathas Retain Power
The Politics of Resentment:
The Role of BJP/Shiv Sena in Elections in Maharasthra
Regime Changes in West Bengal and the 1999 Pa4liamentary Elections
Assam
A Profile of Uttar Pradesh: Stability in Instability
Bi-Polar Competition and the 13th Lok Sabha Elections in Bihar
Bihar Elections 1999-2000, Business As Usual:
Caste, Violence, Moribund Parties, and Leadership
Social Cleavages and Political Alignments in Haryana
Electoral Politics in Punjab:
Autonomy to Secession
Differing Responses to the Parliamentary and Assembly Elections
in Kashmir's Regions, and State-Societal Relations
About the Editors and contributors
Index