Ideology and Identity

Description

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 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.

Reviews

Reviews

"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

Table of contents

Table of contents

Acknowledgements
List of Tables and Graphs
Introduction: Ideology in India's Electoral Politics
Chapter 1. State Formation and Ideological Conflict in Multiethnic Countries
Chapter 2. Ideology, Identity, and the 2014 National Elections
Chapter 3. Intellectual Lineages of the Politics of Statism and Recognition
Chapter 4. Who Opposes Reservations and Why?
Chapter 5. The Myth of Vote Buying in India
Chapter 6. Transformational Leaders and Ideological Shifts
Chapter 7. Transmitting Ideology
Chapter 8. Statism, Recognition, and the Party System Change in India
Chapter 9. Ideological Challenges and the Decline of the Congress Party
Chapter 10. The BJP and an Ideological Consolidation of the Right?
Conclusion: Ideas, Leaders, and Party Systems

Appendix
Bibliography
Index