Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India - Softcover

Chhibber, Pradeep K.; Verma, Rahul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0190623888 ISBN 13: 9780190623883

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Indian party politics, commonly viewed as chaotic, clientelistic, and corrupt, is nevertheless a model for deepening democracy and accommodating diversity. Historically, though, observers have argued that Indian politics is non-ideological in nature. In contrast, Pradeep Chhibber and Rahul Verma contend that the Western European paradigm of "ideology" is not applicable to many contemporary multiethnic countries. In these more diverse states, the most important ideological debates center on statism-the extent to which the state should dominate and regulate society-and recognition-whether and how the state should accommodate various marginalized groups and protect minority rights from majorities. Using survey data from the Indian National Election Studies and evidence from the Constituent Assembly debates, they show how education, the media, and religious practice transmit the competing ideas that lie at the heart of ideological debates in India.

About this title

About the Author:

Pradeep K. Chhibber is Professor of Political Science and Indo-American Community Chair for India Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He has published widely on the party politics of India, party systems, and religion and politics.

Rahul Verma is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His PhD dissertation focuses on the historical roots of elite persistence in contemporary Indian politics. His research interests include voting behavior, party politics and political violence. He also writes regular columns on Indian politics.

Review:

"Contrary to a dominant view of Indian voters as pawns traded by rapacious politicians, Chhibber and Verma permit India's citizens the capacity of reason and intellect. Ideology and Identity is a brave work of political theory bolstered by evidence from archives, opinion surveys, and government data that thrusts the study of Indian politics firmly into the 21st century." - Irfan Nooruddin, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Indian Politics, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

"This book's claim that in ethnically hierarchical and lower-income democracies like India, ideology should be viewed as a combination of what the state should do, both in society and economy, and how marginalized communities can be incorporated in the polity, is worthy of serious consideration. The arguments here will spawn many new thoughts, reflections and arguments." - Ashutosh Varshney, Brown University

"This ambitious study makes a provocative argument about Indian politics. And, it also helps explain why elections in the developing world are often less chaotic, corrupt and clientelist than expected. By showing how late state formation leads to meaningful ideological cleavages, Chhibber and Verma point to new ways to think about when and why elections show stable patterns in the developing world." - Peter Kingstone, King's College London

"This book offers an alternative to the standard interpretation of Indian politics in terms of clientelism. It shows that ideology matters, even if it does not fit in the usual right vs left pattern. Besides the rise of Hindu nationalism, the rejection of state intervention in favor of positive discrimination or redistribution bear testimony of this ideological factor. This emphasis on the role of ideas (or prejudice!) refreshingly rehabilitates political culture as a key dimension of India's public sphere." - Christophe Jaffrelot, CERI,Sciences Po/CNRS

"Chhibber and Verma (both UC Berkeley) present an important case that Indian politics is and has always been quite ideological, despite standard views that it simply rewards various castes... This complex, quantified study invites comparisons with other multi-ethnic societies, and implicitly warns US Democrats against turning too much to "recognition" of marginal groups. The 2019 elections could show if the BJP's combination of Hinduism and markets holds together." -- M. G. Roskin, emeritus, Lycoming College, CHOICE

"Partisan politics is often said to have little to do with ideology in India. Pradeep Chhibber and Rahul Verma's impressive new book is intended to bury this perception, and in the process unpack the role of ideology in Indian politics. This makes it both a remarkable and an original addition to the rapidly accumulating scholarship on India, and as such, one that is required reading for all analysts of Indian politics." -Simon Chauchard, Perspective on Politics

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0190623888
• ISBN 13: 9780190623883
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336