The book examines the influence of context in which elections in contemporary India take place. It explores the interplay of elements of democracy and governance in electioneering—a process of the conglomeration of everything related to the election, including campaigns, approach of political parties, approach of election commission, code of conduct, election manifestos, voting and—message-design of electoral communication in India. The volume: • Is founded on a variety of conceptual approaches: political economy approach, public sphere approach, community and context approach, federalism approach, institutional approach, and cultural approach. • Draws on qualitative and quantitative analysis of rigorous field data. • Underscores the contexts, contours, and cultures of elections in India; • Analyses the ‘narratives’ inherent in electoral campaigns and electoral marketing; • Studies complex, overlapping and multidimensional ways elections can be studied; • Explicates the goal of electioneering in contemporary India—whether it is an ‘institution-driven’ or an ‘actor-driven’ process. The volume will be essential reading for students, teachers and researchers of Indian politics and South Asian studies.

One of the most troubling critiques of contemporary democracy is the inability of representative governments to regulate the deluge of money in politics. If it is impossible to conceive of democracies without elections, it is equally impractical to imagine elections without money. Costs of Democracy is an exhaustive, ground-breaking study of money in Indian politics that opens readers’ eyes to the opaque and enigmatic ways in which money flows through the political veins of the world’s largest democracy. Through original, in-depth investigation—drawing from extensive fieldwork on political campaigns, pioneering surveys, and innovative data analysis—the contributors in this volume uncover the institutional and regulatory contexts governing the torrent of money in politics; the sources of political finance; the reasons for such large spending; and how money flows, influences, and interacts with different tiers of government. The book raises uncomfortable questions about whether the flood of money risks washing away electoral democracy itself.

This book is a collection of articles published by the author over a period of time. Much of his writing reflects the social, political and economic issues that have emerged over the years and impacted India’s politics and governance. Given his special interest in the working of the constitution, and the march of democracy since independence, the book contains chapters which specifically deal with constitutional issues, the working of parliament, the system of justice, the executive and the media. The author feels that negating the facts of history has been a major pastime of the Nehruvian and Marxist schools and that the distortions introduced by these schools need to be challenged and corrected in the current phase of national politics. This is reflected in his articles which deal with the running secular versus pseudo-secular debate as also the political battles being fought on what is ‘national’ and what is ‘anti-national’. In any case, whatever the issue and however intense the debate, he is firmly of the view that it must all happen within the parameters of the constitution.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the contemporary experiences of democracy in India. It explores the modes by which democracy as an idea, and as a practice, is interpreted, enforced, and lived in India’s current political climate. The book employs ‘case studies’ as a methodological vantage point to evolve an innovative conceptual framework for the study of democracy in India. The chapters unpack a diverse range of themes such as democracy and Dalits; agriculture, new sociality and communal violence in rural areas; changing nature of political communication in India; role of anti-nuclear movements in democracies; issues of subaltern citizen’s voice, impaired governance and the development paradigm; free speech and segregation in the public sphere; and, the surveillance state and Indian democracy. These thematic explorations are arranged in an engaging sequence to offer a multifaceted narrative of Indian democracy especially in relation to the recent debates on citizenship and constitutionalism. A key critical intervention on contemporary politics in South Asia, this book will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of political studies, political science, political sociology, comparative government and politics, sociology, social anthropology, public administration, public policy, and South Asia studies. It will also be of immense interest to policymakers, journalists, think tanks, bureaucrats, and organizations working in the area.

India is heralded as the world's largest democracy. Yet, there is now growing alarm about its democratic health. To Kill a Democracy gets to the heart of the matter. Combining poignant life stories with sharp scholarly insight, it rejects the belief that India was once a beacon of democracy but is now being ruined by the destructive forces of Modi-style populism. The book details the much deeper historical roots of the present-day assaults on civil liberties and democratic institutions. Democracy, the authors also argue, is much more than elections and the separation of powers. It is a whole way of life lived in dignity, and that is why they pay special attention to the decaying social foundations of Indian democracy. In compelling fashion, the book describes daily struggles for survival and explains how lived social injustices and unfreedoms rob Indian elections of their meaning, while at the same time feeding the decadence and iron-fisted rule of its governing institutions. Much more than a book about India, To Kill A Democracy argues that what is happening in the country is globally important, and not just because every third person living in a democracy is an Indian. It shows that when democracies rack and ruin their social foundations, they don't just kill off the spirit and substance of democracy. They lay the foundations for despotism.

India no longer gets an easy ride as the world's largest democracy. Spectacular terrorist attacks on its Parliament and places of worship, communal riots of unprecedented ferocity, lingering separatist insurgency and violent caste conflict in impoverished regions have combined to cause a closer appraisal of India's capacity to sustain the rule of law. This book shows how governance is high when people follow the rules of transaction, derived from binding custom, legislation, administrative practices and the constitution. The key question that underpins this analysis is why do some people, sometimes, follow rules and not others? This study responds to this central question by looking at analytical narratives of political order in six Indian regional States, surveys of social and political attitudes and extended interviews with political leaders, administrators and police officers. It shows how, by drawing on the logic of human ingenuity, driven by self interest rather than mechanical adherence to tradition and ideology, these regional elites can design institutions and promote security, welfare and identity which enhance governance.