Constitutional Law (Books and Journals)

• Studies in Indian Politics

Voters’ perception of how satisfied they are with the work of the incumbent government is decisive for their voting decision, with satisfaction in most cases leading to support for the incumbent government and dissatisfaction leading to votes against it. This article is not about exploring the relationship between satisfaction with the incumbent party’s performance and voting for it. The main...

• Studies in Indian Politics

This article studies the patterns of women’s vote in the Lok Sabha elections in India in 2024. It draws upon the National Election Studies (NES) data of 2024 and of previous years to address three key questions related to women’s vote in Indian elections. The first is about the extent of Indian women’s political participation in the wake of increased turnout of women voters and the closing of the

• Studies in Indian Politics

There are two dominant explanations of contemporary Muslim voting behaviour. A section of public commentators reiterates an old argument that Muslims always participate in politics to defeat the BJP. This argument is not entirely incorrect. The BJP did not deviate from its Modi-centric Hindutva-driven campaign. The party relied heavily on an apparent anti-Muslim rhetoric to reach out to its core...

• Studies in Indian Politics

• Studies in Indian Politics

This article seeks to examine the role of the leadership factor in the 2024 elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made leadership the centre-piece of its campaign and appeal for votes. While the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) coalition consciously avoided a confrontation with the BJP around the leadership issue, this factor continued to assume salience during the...

• Studies in Indian Politics

While extant research has identified several determinants of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s unprecedented victory in the 2019 general election, they have overlooked the party’s populist radical right (PRR) nature, particularly under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Based on the demand side of PRR voting, this article examines the effect of Indian voters’ populist attitudes on their voting...

• Studies in Indian Politics

Eswaran Sridharan, Elections, Parties, and Coalitions in India: Theory and Recent History. Permanent Black. 359 pages. ₹1095.

• Studies in Indian Politics

Mrinal Pande. The Journey of Hindi Language Journalism in India: From Raj to Swaraj and Beyond. Orient BlackSwan, 2022; 176 pp., ₹1195.

• Studies in Indian Politics

Populist appeals resonate in contemporary India because of political inequalities. These inequalities persist because political parties are stuck in a reciprocity trap that favours local elites, who provide the party with financial support and resources. This reciprocity trap not only perpetuates political inequalities but also leads to the systematic marginalization of the poor by political...

• Studies in Indian Politics

Christopher Clary, The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia. Oxford University Press, 2022, 315 pp., ₹895.

• Studies in Indian Politics

• Studies in Indian Politics

In the 2019 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoyed a significant appeal among the youth. However, in 2024, the stakes completely changed and the party ended up losing significant seats. This article explores political participation of youth in 2024 Lok Sabha elections and focuses on the central question: Is the youth still attracted to the BJP? Using data from...

• Studies in Indian Politics

The economic theory of voting has long remained a cornerstone in the study of voting behaviour, especially in economically developed democracies. At the heart of it is the assumption that economic contexts shape voting choice and influence electoral outcomes as management of the economy is an important function of governments and that citizens hold elected representatives accountable for the...

• Studies in Indian Politics

The practice of International Relations (IR) in India dates back to the 1950s and the establishment of the Indian School of International Studies (ISIS). Despite an early start, IR in India struggled to establish itself as a discipline due to domestic and institutional issues. Prominent criticisms of Indian IR include a lack of methodological rigour, an absence of theory, and low contributions to

• Studies in Indian Politics

Ruchi Chaturvedi, Violence of Democracy: Interparty Conflict in South India. Orient BlackSwan, 2023, 250 pp., ₹1125.

• Studies in Indian Politics

Voting studies tell us that voters reward incumbents who take care of the economic self-interest of voters. However, is the relationship between services and votes simple and straightforward? Are there conditions when welfare provisioning does not convert into votes for the incumbent? Data from the National Election Studies 2024 appears to suggest that voters are discerning and concerned about...

• Studies in Indian Politics

In this article, we compare the Indian experience with that of some of the multinational and multi-level polities from the Global North, namely Belgium, Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom. We first summarize the essence of multinationalism. Drawing from our comparative examples of the Global North we then show how dominant narratives of state nationalism condition the extent to which the state...

• Studies in Indian Politics

• Studies in Indian Politics

The rise of the BJP is usually credited for the shift towards the Hindutva politics in India, but other political parties are also not immune to using confession for electoral purposes. This article discusses how, despite living together for years, a large number of Hindus differently imagine the citizens belonging to the minority religious communities and vice versa. The article then examines...

• Studies in Indian Politics

The article explores the positioning of the political elite of a marginalized minority community in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The co-option of Pasmanda elites within the BJP has seemingly transformed the nature of Pasmanda politics. The article argues that the non-ideological assertion of the Pasmanda elites leaves little room for politics of autonomy. These elites are drawn from the newly-educa

• Studies in Indian Politics

• Studies in Indian Politics

Ronojoy Sen, House of the People: Parliament and the Making of Indian Democracy. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2022, 311 pp., ₹1,295

• Studies in Indian Politics

Arkotong Longkumer, The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast. Delhi: Navayana, 2022, 336 pp., ₹599.

• Studies in Indian Politics

Arkotong Longkumer, The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast. Delhi: Navayana, 2022, 336 pp., ₹599.

• Studies in Indian Politics

How do sociopolitical developments in the 1980s endure in contemporary Pakistan? The article answers this question across three dimensions: first, the religious, as witnessed in General Zia-ul-Haq’s weaponization of blasphemy laws that shaped the rise of a majoritarian political actor in the shape of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in 2017. Second, the social, with Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamization...

• Studies in Indian Politics

Sujata Patel, D. Parthasarathy and George Jose (Eds.), Mumbai/Bombay: Majoritarian Neoliberalism, Informality, Resistance, and Wellbeing. New Delhi: Routledge Publications, 2022, 257pp., ₹1,299.

• Studies in Indian Politics

Ronojoy Sen, House of the People: Parliament and the Making of Indian Democracy. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2022, 311 pp., ₹1,295

• Studies in Indian Politics

The 1980s proved critical not merely for contemporary Afghan history but also for the women’s struggle in Afghanistan. Showcasing Afghan women’s struggles, this article argues that the 1980s proved crucial in shaping feminist debates in Afghanistan. Arguably, Afghan women’s lived experience from the 1980s drove home the conclusion that foreign occupation does not bring women freedoms, while...

• Studies in Indian Politics

Resistance to political change is a hallmark of Sri Lankan politics since the 1980s. Thus, the polity has been able to sturdily maintain the status quo. Linking contemporary politics with the political legacies of the 1980s, the article argues that by providing continuity to the 1978 constitution, Sri Lanka’s political system has become a hostage to the status quo. This is shown in the analysis...

• Studies in Indian Politics

Resistance to political change is a hallmark of Sri Lankan politics since the 1980s. Thus, the polity has been able to sturdily maintain the status quo. Linking contemporary politics with the political legacies of the 1980s, the article argues that by providing continuity to the 1978 constitution, Sri Lanka’s political system has become a hostage to the status quo. This is shown in the analysis...