Studies in Indian Politics

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-09-06

ISBN:: 2321-0230

Issue Number

No. 12-2, December 2024

Latest documents

The Leadership Factor in the 2024 Elections: Did Narendra Modi’s Impact Peak Much Before the Elections?
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 campaign. By locating the debate in the wider context of the 2014 and 2019 elections, this article, assesses whether the impact of the leadership factor, especially in the case of BJP (and the National Democratic Alliance [NDA]) has plateaued and did not add any traction to the campaign of the ruling party. A set of questions asked in the National Election Study (NES) 2024 compared with data from NES 2014 and NES 2019 form the basis of the analysis.
The Great Transition Towards Populism in Indian Politics: Populist Attitudes and Populist Radical Right (PRR) Voting in the 2019 Indian General Election
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 choices for the BJP during the 2019 election. Using binary logistic regression (BLR) and conducting a robustness check, this article identifies that the variable of individuals’ populist attitudes does indeed exert a significant effect on their vote choices for the BJP during the 2019 election. In addition to this main variable, a number of controls that were included in the analysis were also found to be significantly correlated with the dependent variable. In light of the findings, the article proposes some theoretical implications.
Book review: Eswaran Sridharan, Elections, Parties, and Coalitions in India: Theory and Recent History
Eswaran Sridharan, Elections, Parties, and Coalitions in India: Theory and Recent History. Permanent Black. 359 pages. ₹1095.
Book review: Mrinal Pande. The Journey of Hindi Language Journalism in India: From Raj to Swaraj and Beyond
Mrinal Pande. The Journey of Hindi Language Journalism in India: From Raj to Swaraj and Beyond. Orient BlackSwan, 2022; 176 pp., ₹1195.
Middle-class Populism: Political Inequalities and Populist Appeal in India
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 parties who remain less receptive to populist appeals by a political leader. This article shows that the middle class, not the poor, were more receptive to populist messages in the 2024 elections. Even though Modi remained immensely popular, the middle classes found Rahul Gandhi’s populist message more compelling. The analysis is based on the pre-and post-election surveys from 2024 and other NES surveys.
Book review: Christopher Clary, The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia
Christopher Clary, The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia. Oxford University Press, 2022, 315 pp., ₹895.
The Need for Classroom Ethnographies
Youth Vote in 2024 Lok Sabha Elections
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 National Election Study (NES), the article discusses how the youth have voted and the reasons behind their voting choice. The findings reveal that despite extensive efforts of political parties in carving out a youth constituency, none were truly successful.
Pocketbook Voting in India’s 18th Parliamentary Elections (2024)
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 nation’s as well as family’s economic situation. Voters support ruling party candidates when they think the incumbent government has delivered on the economic front—creation of employment opportunities, keeping price of essential goods and services under control, rise in income across social layers and so on. In India, much of the analysis of voting behaviour is focused on shifting allegiance of support across social constituencies—particularly caste and religion. Economic factors of voting choices have received little attention to the extent as if they do not matter. However, analysis of NES (2024) data suggests that economic factors swayed a significant chunk of voters and thus influenced the final electoral outcomes. Anchored in economic theoretical context of voting behaviour, this article particularly examines whether there was pocketbook voting and whether it influenced the electoral outcomes of the 18th general election to Lok Sabha (2024). The findings show that pocketbook voting had significant and substantial effect on political preference.
The Practice of International Relations Discipline in India: Obstacles and Challenges
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 high-ranking journals. While engagement with questions of post-colonialism and decolonization is not new to IR, its impact on India continues to be limited. This essay explores the issues and challenges associated with the practice of IR in India by taking a de-parochial and decolonial outlook. I argue that IR in India developed as a received discourse from the West with little to no engagement with India’s past, statist assumptions, and imperial underpinnings of the discipline.