First published in 2003, Decentring the Indian Nation examines the various centrifugal forces apparent in recent Indian politics. After achieving independence in 1947 India’s elite opted to build a modern nation-state. This idea was carefully nurtured during the fight for freedom from British rule by the dominant Congress movement. In recent years, the idea of a centralised state has been challenged from a number of directions. Strong regional political movements have questioned the assumption that India’s federal system requires a dominant centre. The related trend of identity-based mobilisation has challenged settled notions of Indian national identity. The authors discuss the idea that as a nation, India is becoming ‘decentred’, and consider the implications of this idea for the development of the Indian polity. This book will be of interest to students of politics, geography and development.
1. Decentring the Indian Nation Andrew Wyatt, John Zavos and Vernon Hewitt 2. Constitutional Centring: Nation Formation and Consociational Federalism in India and Pakistan Katherine Adeney 3. Redrawing the Body Politic: Federalism, Regionalism and the Creation of New States in India Emma Mawdsley 4. The Continuing Struggle for India’s Jharkhand: Democracy, Decentralisation and the Politics of Names and Numbers Stuart Corbridge 5. Liberal, Secular Democracy and Explanations of Hindu Nationalism Rajeev Bhargava 6. Whatever Happened in Cultural Nationalism in Tamil Nadu? A Reading of Current Events and the Recent Literature on Tamil Politics John Harriss 7. A Response to John Harriss S. V. Rajadurai and V. Geetha 8. Identity Politics and Social Pluralism: Political Sociology and Political Change in Tamil Nadu Narendra Subramanian Abstracts Index
Biography
Andrew Wyatt and John Zavos
