<p>“<i>The Troubling State of India's Democracy</i>, edited by Šumit Ganguly, Dinsha Mistree, and Larry Diamond, is a timely and frank analysis of the decline of Indian democracy over the last decade. While the overall picture the essays in this book paint is deeply worrisome, the essays are reader friendly and engaging. The book also offers hope that growing pockets of resistance could, some day, reverse the decline. The book should be read by anyone interested in India, including in its place in the geopolitics of the coming decades.”</p>

As India’s power and prominence rise on the international stage, its longstanding tradition of democracy is under threat. Since establishing a secular and democratic constitution in 1950, India has held elections at the local, state, and national levels with frequent transitions of power between opposing parties. This commitment to democracy has provided political order to a country that is twice the size of Europe and with a stunning array of social and economic divides. Despite this rich tradition, India’s democracy faces an unprecedented threat with the rise of Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party. After decisively winning general elections in 2014, Modi and the BJP have pursued a range of anti-democratic policies in which the state and society are used to undermine the opposition, to stifle free speech, and to harass religious minorities. The Troubling State of India’s Democracy brings together leading scholars from around the world to assess the conditions of India’s democracy across three important dimensions: politics, specifically the state of political parties and the party system; the state, including the condition of federalism and the health of various institutions; and society, including NGOs, ethnic and religious tensions, and control of the media. Even though elements of India’s democracy seem to function—like its commitment to elections—the contributors document a disturbing trajectory, one that not only threatens to undermine India’s own stability, but could also affect the global order.
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Assessing the condition and potential trajectories of India’s democracy
Introduction Sumit Ganguly, Dinsha Mistree, and Larry DiamondPart 1: PoliticsChapter 1: Electoral Trends and the State of the Party System Eswaran SridharanChapter 2: The State of the Two Major Parties: BJP and Congress Eswaran SridharanChapter 3: Regional Political Parties in India Ashutosh KumarChapter 4: Redefined Indian-ness and the Decline of India’s Democracy Maya TudorChapter 5: Trends in Public Support for Democracy Vinay SitapatiPart 2: The StateChapter 6: Federalism and Center-State Relations Kanta MuraliChapter 7: The State of the Supreme Court Ronojoy SenChapter 8: The Bureaucracy Yamini AiyarChapter 9: The State of the Police Arvind VermaChapter 10: Investigative Agencies Ajay MehraChapter 11: Modi’s Mixed Record as an Economic Reformer John Echeverri-Gent, Aseema Sinha, and Andrew WyattPart 3: SocietyChapter 12: NGOs and Civil Society Rahul MukherjiChapter 13: Ethnic and Religious Tensions Thomas Blom HansenChapter 14: Hindutva, Caste, and State Vigilantism Christophe JaffrelotChapter 15: Indian News Media Taberez NeyaziChapter 16: Social Media in Elections: Modi and After Joyojeet Pal List of Contributors
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“The Troubling State of India's Democracy, edited by Šumit Ganguly, Dinsha Mistree, and Larry Diamond, is a timely and frank analysis of the decline of Indian democracy over the last decade. While the overall picture the essays in this book paint is deeply worrisome, the essays are reader friendly and engaging. The book also offers hope that growing pockets of resistance could, some day, reverse the decline. The book should be read by anyone interested in India, including in its place in the geopolitics of the coming decades.”
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780472057016
Publisert
2024-08-06
Utgiver
Vendor
The University of Michigan Press
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

Om bidragsyterne

Šumit Ganguly is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and holds the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Dinsha Mistree is Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Larry Diamond is William L. Clayton Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.