Politics in India Consolidating Democratic Governance in the 21st Century

PART I: Introduction

1 Indian politics in the 21st century: democracy, diversity, and governance

2 The ‘idioms’ of Indian politics: culture, context, and the rational voter

PART II: History, society, and identity

3 The past in the making of the present: the longue durée of Indian politics

4 Caste, language, and religion: politics and social cleavages in India

5 Nationising India: politics in quest of a collective identity

PART III: Government and the political process

6 Strength with accountability: the institutional arrangement of the Indian state

7 India’s symmetric and asymmetric federalism: balancing national unity and regional autonomy

8 Elections and political parties: democracy’s workhorses

9 Radical politics, ‘demand groups’ and consolidation of democratic governance

10 Force in the making of legitimacy: the keepers of order, and the consolidation of Indian democracy

PART IV: Economy, social justice, and India’s global outreach

11 The state and the economy: the challenge of democracy and development

12 The state and social justice: poverty, social vulnerability, and welfare

13 India and the world: statecraft and foreign policy

PART V: Conclusion: consolidating democratic governance

14 The resilience of India’s counterfactual democracy, and its anomalies

15 Consolidating democratic governance in India: prospects and problems

Further reading
Appendix
Bibliography
Index

Biography

Subrata K. Mitra was Head of the Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany (1994–2014). In the course of his years in teaching, research, and academic collaboration, he has applied his specialisation in rational choice theory and quantitative methods to a diversity of fields which include Indian and comparative politics; democratisation; the post-colonial state and social change; governance; elections and political parties; state-formation and sub-national movements; foreign policy; religion and art history; and transcultural studies. This diversity can be seen in the range of his publications which include India: Statecraft and Foreign Policy (with Jivanta Schottli, and Markus Pauli, 2023), The 2019 Parliamentary Elections in India: Democracy at the Crossroads? (with Rekha Saxena and Pampa Mukherjee, 2022), ‘The 2024 parliamentary elections in India: nation, region and religion’ (with Harihar Bhattacharyya, forthcoming, 2026); Governance by Stealth: The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Making of the Indian State (2021); Kautilya’s Arthashastra: An Intellectual Biography – the Classical Roots of Modern Politics in India (with Michael Liebig, 2017); Citizenship and the Flow of Ideas in the Era of Globalization (2012); Re-use: The Art and Politics of Integration and Anxiety (with Julia Hegewald, 2012); When Rebels Become Stakeholders (with V.B. Singh, 2009) and The Puzzle of India’s Governance (2005).

“Politics in India deftly lays out the choices, institutions, process as well as the deeper structures of society, history and culture shaping India’s changing trajectory. It weaves together historical, and contemporary material including public opinion data to build a powerful framework that both surveys while also articulating a set of cogent ideas and concepts that allow us to see the changes and the continuities in India’s trajectory of governance. This book educates the student and teacher but also goes beyond to stimulate the scholar of India. The guide to further reading in Chapter 17 enables the reader to go deep if they so choose. The writing is powerful and evocative. This textbook is valuable advance over previous editions and is likely to serve as an important resource for the un-initiated, as well as students, teachers and scholars alike.”

Aseema Sinha, Wagener Chair of South Asian Politics and George R. Roberts Fellow, Claremont McKenna College, California, USA 

"This is the first-ever comprehensive book on Indian politics which surpasses all existing ones. Majestic in scope and style, it belongs to the grand tradition Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph. Based the application of political scientific tools – yet rare in the genre – it firmly roots understanding Indian politics in history, culture and context of the country. Mindful of the blemishes as well as achievements of the Indian state, the book focuses on India’s resilient democracy, and indigeneity, adaptability and transformability of modern politics in a traditional setting. Original, and path breaking, the book will remain a standard text on Indian politics for students, researchers, rulers, political opinionmakers and the general readers."

Harihar Bhattacharyya, Ph. D (LSE), Former Professor of Political Science, the University of Burdwan

"Systematically exploring the institutional architecture and multifaceted socio-political processes, this volume offers us a deeply reflective and analytically sophisticated assessment of Indian politics. It unpacks the complexities of the contemporary political landscape to map out the dasha (status) and disha (direction) of constitutional democracy in India."

Hilal Ahmed, Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi