Democracy and Social Change in India: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the National Electorate - Hardcover

Mitra, Subrata K; Singh, V B

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0761993444 ISBN 13: 9780761993445

Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd, 1999

Synopsis

`The authors succeed in presenting very detailed findings from a post-election study of the electorate using a theoretical approach that accounts for the most worrying phenomena in contemporary Indian politics′ - John Hickman, Contemporary South Asia

Drawing on a 1996 nationwide post-election survey of 10,000 people, this book analyzes the process and progress of democratization in India. It begins with a discussion of some of the major schools of thought in the area of social change. This is followed by a description of the survey findings on how Indians view their state, how they judge those who govern them and how they understand their society. The authors provide an important analysis of the findings, providing answers to questions such as:

- are there generational differences in the views expressed?

- does the rhetoric of regionalization find resonance in the views of the people surveyed?

- is India truly a nation or merely an accidental geographical assemblage of separate communities?

Using innovative statistical analysis, the authors explore the relative success of Indian democracy in coping with the processes of modernization and social change.

About this title

About the Author:

Subrata K Mitra was trained as a political scientist at the University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University, both in India, as well as at the University of Rochester, New York, USA. He is currently Professor and Head, Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University and was the coordinator, Area A (Governance and Administration), Cluster of Excellence―Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows (2008–2010). His publications include The Puzzle of India’s Governance: Culture, Context and Comparative Theory (2005) and When Rebels become Stakeholders (2009). He is the academic editor of Advances in South Asian Studies, Heidelberg Series in South Asian and Comparative Studies and editor of Critical Issues in the Modern Politics of South Asia (2009).

Review:

`The authors succeed in presenting very detailed findings from a post-election study of the electorate using a theoretical approach that accounts for the most worrying phenomena in contemporary Indian politics′ - John Hickman, Contemporary South Asia

"Mitra and Singh provide an indispensable guide to the patterns, the variety, and the complex dynamics that characterize the surprisingly democratic Indian electorate." 

Author: G. Bingham Powell, Jr.

About this edition

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0761993444
• ISBN 13: 9780761993445
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 340