Political Parties, Party Manifestos and Elections in India, 1909–2014
Political Parties, Party Manifestos and Elections in India, 1909–2014

Author: R. K. Tiwari

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2018-09-21

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0429813295

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In the parliamentary system of government, manifestos constitute and represent an important aspect of the democratic electoral politics as statements of a party’s ideology, response and policy. This book offers an examination of election manifestos of different political parties in India at the national level. It explores the manifesto as an input to the policy process and presents a comparative perspective and understanding on the issues and approaches of the national political parties on key affairs. The book traces the evolution of the electoral system, political parties and party manifestos in India as they emerged and developed over time. It looks at the Statutes of 1909, 1919 and 1935 along with the party manifestos and elections until 1945–46. The author further analyses Constituent Assembly debates on the electoral system and the stances of political parties on national reconstruction through documents from parties, including the Indian National Congress, the Communist Party of India, the Socialist Party, Jana Sangh and the All India Scheduled Castes Federation. Covering manifestos of sixteen Lok Sabha Elections (from the first general election of 1952 to 2014), this book provides a comprehensive overview of how major political parties think on significant social, economic, political, foreign and defence-related issues. It will be useful to scholars and researchers of political science, election studies, modern Indian history, public administration, law and governance, sociology, media and journalism as also to legislators and policymakers.

New Welfare Policy and Democratic Politics in India
New Welfare Policy and Democratic Politics in India

Author: Prakash Sarangi

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-06-11

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1040031765

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New Welfare Policy and Democratic Politics in India offers an analysis of India’s welfare policy during the last couple of decades. It looks at how welfare policy making is viewed as a function of party competition and voter mobilization, showing a gradual transformation of political clients into entitled citizens through which democratic politics in India has redefined its contemporary welfare discourse. The book argues that political parties formulate policies in order to respond to the voices of citizens and shows that a new welfare architecture emerged in India, characterized as responsive welfare. India has witnessed a sharp rise in such voices, which have been disadvantaged by a globalizing market. The size and vulnerability of this group has made them politically significant and electorally salient. These welfare aspirants have found a new political space through political parties to negotiate and assert their claims on the state, creating a milestone in India’s democratic politics trajectory, in the form of entitlement-based welfare policy. The book compares and evaluates the implications of these new welfare policies in the contexts of two governments: the Congress-led government during 2009-2014 and the BJP-led government during 20014-2019. The empirical data reveal remarkable similarities in their electoral pledges, policy outputs, policy outcomes and accountability towards citizens. These findings indicate significant convergence in their welfare policies, sans ideology or ethnic support base. It also reveals that the ideological differences among the two major parties do not prevent remarkable continuities in the formulation and implementation of welfare policies during their incumbencies, thus allowing for a bipartisan acceptance of a citizen-centric welfare policy. Offering a new analysis to understand this citizen-party-policy linkage in the formulation of welfare policy in India, the book presents a macro analysis of India’s interface between democratic politics and welfare policy. It will be of interest to researchers in the fields of the politics of welfare, democratisation in changing societies, comparative politics and Indian and South Asian Studies and Asian Politics.

The 2019 Parliamentary Elections in India
The 2019 Parliamentary Elections in India

Author: Subrata K. Mitra

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-06-16

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 1000591050

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This book presents a comprehensive overview of India’s electoral democracy and political system. It provides an in-depth analysis of the 2019 parliamentary elections to explore three crucial facts of India’s political life: the legitimacy of political competition as the only basis of power; elections as the only legitimate basis of political competition; and political parties as the only legitimate agency to conduct political competition. The book argues that the vitality and resilience of India’s electoral democracy remain high owing to large mass participation in elections that are competitive and relatively free and fair. The volume includes key theoretical, empirical, and comparative perspectives on parties and elections from experts, and covers all major political parties of India, along with the performance of many representative regional parties. It discusses themes such as elections and party competition in India; ideology, interest, religion, and gender as they affect social mobilisation and political transaction; economic and politial change, and multiparty democracy; the dynamics of the Muslim vote; fluctuating electoral fortunes; and electoral campaigns and role of social media. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of political science, political sociology, election studies, Indian politics, South Asian politics, and South Asian studies. It will also interest those in politics, public policy and governance, civil society organisations, media and journalism, and the general reader.

Crossing Lines
Crossing Lines

Author: Madhavi Devasher

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-04-24

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1040007147

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This book explains why, how, and where ethnic political parties unexpectedly seek votes from non-coethnics and when voters support non-coethnic parties. It draws on case studies of three Indian states (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan) and of Indian national elections to demonstrate how differences in party systems impact political party strategies and voter choices. It shows that multipolar party systems encourage political parties to provide physical security, representation, and economic benefits for minorities, especially Muslims, in India and as a result, foster cross-ethnic links between parties and voters. However, as political arenas become dominated by two or even one party, advocacy for the interests of marginalized groups declines, weakening cross-ethnic linkages. The book thus explains why representation and advocacy for Muslims in Uttar Pradesh and at the national level has alternated dramatically in the 21st century. Based on original fieldwork and supplemented by existing surveys and secondary sources from the 1990s to the present day, the book addresses critical themes such as inclusion and substantive representation in a democracy, caste and minority politics, ethnic violence, and inter-ethnic linkages between politicians and voters. Demonstrating why political parties support and protect the interests of marginalized ethnic groups in certain political conditions but not others, the volume also speaks to larger questions of the health of multiethnic democracies and democratic backsliding around the world.

The Idea of New India
The Idea of New India

Author: Pramod Kumar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-01

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1000485714

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The idea of ‘New India’ has acquired a new currency. The dominant grammar of politics dilutes the critical impulse and deters the expression of alternate politics. The interpretive possibilities have been replaced by a reactive exchange. Technology is presented as a panacea, rather than just a facilitator. Legitimacy and normative dignity for these ideas is acquired by redefining the role of the institutions and also through constitutional amendments. A major intellectual effort is required to reformulate public policy, governance systems and social relations to balance the opposite claims of market efficiency and economic growth with social equity and justice. This book is co-published with Aakar Books, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the print versions of this book in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Unionisms in Times of Change
Unionisms in Times of Change

Author: Jennifer Todd

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-05

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 100043950X

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Unions and unionisms are important because they offer an alternative form of politics to that of nation-states and nationalisms. They allow a wider variety of relations between a plurality of peoples, opening prospects of resolving territorial politics. But unionisms, as state- or polity-centred perspectives, are also typically power-centred, often using the resources of the polity to resist assertion by their members, thereby turning democratic challenges into secessionist ones. Unionisms in Times of Change: Brexit, Britain and the Balkans focusses on these two faces of unionisms: the flexible alternative to the nation state, and the assertor of central power. This book is particularly timely at a period when the unions of the British Isles and of Europe have been disrupted by the process of British exit from the European Union, creating new dilemmas and options for unionisms in Northern Ireland. The chapters in this volume map the conceptual structure of unionisms; the ways unions are defined and defended in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the Balkans and Moldova; the ways they deal with challenge, conflict and change; the prospects of negotiation; the ways unionisms move from flexibility and accommodation to repression and back; and the opportunities for agreement and conflict resolution. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Irish Political Studies.

Ireland and the European Union
Ireland and the European Union

Author: Michael Holmes

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1526159589

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This book examines how Ireland’s relationship with the EU was affected by a succession of crises in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The financial crisis, the Brexit crisis and the migration crisis were not of equal significance on the island of Ireland. The financial crisis was a huge issue for the Republic but not Northern Ireland, Brexit had a major impact in both polities, the migration and populism issues were less controversial, while foreign policy challenges had a minimal impact. The book provides a summary of the main features of each of the crises to be considered, from both the EU and the Irish perspective. Ireland and the European Union is the first volume of its kind to provide a comprehensive analysis on British–Irish relations in the context of Brexit. It assesses the Withdrawal Agreement and Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, the devolution settlement and the 1998 Agreement, as well as the European dimension to Northern Ireland’s peace process. The contributors explore a number of policy areas that are central to the understanding of each of the crises and the impact of each for Ireland. Chapters examine issues such as security, migration and taxation as well as protest politics, political parties, the media, public opinion and the economic impact of each of these crises on Ireland’s relationship with the EU.

The Troubling State of India's Democracy
The Troubling State of India's Democracy

Author: Dinsha Mistree

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2024-08-06

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 0472904655

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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.

Populism in Global Perspective
Populism in Global Perspective

Author: Pierre Ostiguy

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-12-30

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1000335542

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Pathbreaking theoretically and innovative in treatment, Populism in Global Perspective is a seminal addition to the literature on arguably the most controversial and fervently discussed topic in political science today. The book brings together established and rising stars in the field of populism studies, in an integrated set of theoretical and empirical studies centered on a discursive-performative notion of populism. Contributors argue that populist identification is relational and sociocultural, and demonstrate the importance of studying populism phenomenologically together with anti-populism. The truly global series of case studies of populism in the US, Western and Southern Europe, Latin America, South Africa, the Philippines, and Turkey achieves a deliberate balance of left and right instances of populism, including within regions, and of populism in government and opposition. Written in a style approachable to students and specialists alike, the volume provides a substantial foundation for current knowledge on the topic. Populism in Global Perspective is a must read for comparativists, political theorists, sociologists, area studies specialists, and all educated readers interested in populism worldwide.

The Rise of Right-Wing Populist Parties and Reversal of Economic Reforms in Developing Democracies
The Rise of Right-Wing Populist Parties and Reversal of Economic Reforms in Developing Democracies

Author: Vineeta Yadav

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2024-01-12

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 1666924547

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When and why are right-wing populist parties electorally successful in developing democracies? What are the economic consequences of their electoral success? This book presents an original theoretical framework that is grounded in the socio-economic characteristics of developing countries to answer these questions and provides evidence for its theo