Legislative Elite in an Indian State

Legislative Elite in an Indian State PDF Author: Shashi Lata Puri
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
ISBN: 9788170170778
Category : Legislators
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
The Book Is One Of The Few Full-Length Studies Of The Members Of A Legislative Assembly. It Deals With The Members Of The Iv Legislative Assembly In Rajasthan, One Of The 22 States Of The Indian Union, Which, Though With A Feudal Background, Has Been Struggling Its Way To A Modern Democratic Order. The Data For The Study Was Collected During 1970-71 And Covers 130 Of The 184 Members Of The Legislative Assembly. The Study Aims At Finding Out The Role Of The Legislative Elite In The Democratizing Process. The Specific Foci Of Enquiry Are The Socio-Economic And Political Background Of The Legislators, Their Political Values And Orientation And Their Role Images. What Distinguishes This Study From Other Studies Of The Legislative Elite Is An Effort To Investigate Intothe Pattern Of Constituency Linkage Which The Legislative Elite Develop In Their Own Enlightened Self-Interest. The Key Finding Of The Study Is That The Constituents Look Upon Their Representatives Primarily As Agents Of Local Development Which In Turn Becomes The Basis Of Their Legitimacy And Re-Election. The Author Has Also Tried To Probe Into The Patterns Of Socialisation That Have Gone Into The Making Of The Political Mind Of The Legislators In The State. The Study Brings Out That Till The Iv Assembly At Least National Movement Had Been One Of The Most Important Socialising Agents, Though Some Departures From This Trend Have Also Been Noticeable, Which Have A Portent For The Future. Altogether The Prsent Study, Which Is A Revised Version Of Authbor'S Ph.D. Thesis, Provides Meaningful Insights Into The Structure Of The Political Elite And The Political Process In The State. It Should Serve As A Useful Basis For Future Studies Particularly For Comparative Purposes.

Rise of the Plebeians?

Rise of the Plebeians? PDF Author: Christophe Jaffrelot
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136516611
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
For decades, India has been a conservative democracy governed by the upper caste notables coming from the urban bourgeoisie, the landowning aristocracy and the intelligentsia. The democratisation of the ‘world’s largest democracy’ started with the rise of peasants’ parties and the politicisation of the lower castes who voted their own representatives to power as soon as they emancipated themselves from the elite’s domination. In Indian state politics, caste plays a major role and this book successfully studies how this caste-based social diversity gets translated into politics. This is the first comprehensive study of the sociological profile of Indian political personnel at the state level. It examines the individual trajectory of 16 states, from the 1950s to 2000s, according to one dominant parameter—the evolution of the caste background of their elected representatives known as Members of the Legislative Assembly, or MLAs. The study also takes into account other variables like occupation, gender, age and education.

Legislative Elite in an Indian State

Legislative Elite in an Indian State PDF Author: Shashi Lata Puri
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
ISBN: 9788170170778
Category : Legislators
Languages : en
Pages : 302

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Book Is One Of The Few Full-Length Studies Of The Members Of A Legislative Assembly. It Deals With The Members Of The Iv Legislative Assembly In Rajasthan, One Of The 22 States Of The Indian Union, Which, Though With A Feudal Background, Has Been Struggling Its Way To A Modern Democratic Order. The Data For The Study Was Collected During 1970-71 And Covers 130 Of The 184 Members Of The Legislative Assembly. The Study Aims At Finding Out The Role Of The Legislative Elite In The Democratizing Process. The Specific Foci Of Enquiry Are The Socio-Economic And Political Background Of The Legislators, Their Political Values And Orientation And Their Role Images. What Distinguishes This Study From Other Studies Of The Legislative Elite Is An Effort To Investigate Intothe Pattern Of Constituency Linkage Which The Legislative Elite Develop In Their Own Enlightened Self-Interest. The Key Finding Of The Study Is That The Constituents Look Upon Their Representatives Primarily As Agents Of Local Development Which In Turn Becomes The Basis Of Their Legitimacy And Re-Election. The Author Has Also Tried To Probe Into The Patterns Of Socialisation That Have Gone Into The Making Of The Political Mind Of The Legislators In The State. The Study Brings Out That Till The Iv Assembly At Least National Movement Had Been One Of The Most Important Socialising Agents, Though Some Departures From This Trend Have Also Been Noticeable, Which Have A Portent For The Future. Altogether The Prsent Study, Which Is A Revised Version Of Authbor'S Ph.D. Thesis, Provides Meaningful Insights Into The Structure Of The Political Elite And The Political Process In The State. It Should Serve As A Useful Basis For Future Studies Particularly For Comparative Purposes.

A People's Constitution

A People's Constitution PDF Author: Rohit De
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691210381
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
It has long been contended that the Indian Constitution of 1950, a document in English created by elite consensus, has had little influence on India’s greater population. Drawing upon the previously unexplored records of the Supreme Court of India, A People’s Constitution upends this narrative and shows how the Constitution actually transformed the daily lives of citizens in profound and lasting ways. This remarkable legal process was led by individuals on the margins of society, and Rohit De looks at how drinkers, smugglers, petty vendors, butchers, and prostitutes—all despised minorities—shaped the constitutional culture. The Constitution came alive in the popular imagination so much that ordinary people attributed meaning to its existence, took recourse to it, and argued with it. Focusing on the use of constitutional remedies by citizens against new state regulations seeking to reshape the society and economy, De illustrates how laws and policies were frequently undone or renegotiated from below using the state’s own procedures. De examines four important cases that set legal precedents: a Parsi journalist’s contestation of new alcohol prohibition laws, Marwari petty traders’ challenge to the system of commodity control, Muslim butchers’ petition against cow protection laws, and sex workers’ battle to protect their right to practice prostitution. Exploring how the Indian Constitution of 1950 enfranchised the largest population in the world, A People’s Constitution considers the ways that ordinary citizens produced, through litigation, alternative ethical models of citizenship.

Indian Federalism

Indian Federalism PDF Author: Louise Tillin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199097879
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 131

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Book Description
To understand how politics, the economy, and public policy function in the world’s largest democracy, an appreciation of federalism is essential. Bringing to surface the complex dimensions that affect relations between India’s central government and states, this short introduction is the one-stop account to federalism in India. Paying attention to the constitutional, political, and economic factors that shape Centre–state relations, this book stimulates understanding of some of the big dilemmas facing India today. The ability of India’s central government to set the economic agenda or secure implementation of national policies throughout the country depends on the institutions and practices of federalism. Similarly, the ability of India’s states to contribute to national policy making or to define their own policy agendas that speak to local priorities all hinge on questions of federalism. Organised in four chapters, this book introduces readers to one of the key living features of Indian democracy.

The Republic of India

The Republic of India PDF Author: Alan Gledhill
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description


From Hierarchy to Ethnicity

From Hierarchy to Ethnicity PDF Author: Alexander Lee
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108489907
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
From Hierarchy to Ethnicity discusses the origins of politicized caste identities in twentieth-century India, and how they evolved over time.

The Politics of Islamic Law

The Politics of Islamic Law PDF Author: Iza R. Hussin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022632348X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
In The Politics of Islamic Law, Iza Hussin compares India, Malaya, and Egypt during the British colonial period in order to trace the making and transformation of the contemporary category of ‘Islamic law.’ She demonstrates that not only is Islamic law not the shari’ah, its present institutional forms, substantive content, symbolic vocabulary, and relationship to state and society—in short, its politics—are built upon foundations laid during the colonial encounter. Drawing on extensive archival work in English, Arabic, and Malay—from court records to colonial and local papers to private letters and visual material—Hussin offers a view of politics in the colonial period as an iterative series of negotiations between local and colonial powers in multiple locations. She shows how this resulted in a paradox, centralizing Islamic law at the same time that it limited its reach to family and ritual matters, and produced a transformation in the Muslim state, providing the frame within which Islam is articulated today, setting the agenda for ongoing legislation and policy, and defining the limits of change. Combining a genealogy of law with a political analysis of its institutional dynamics, this book offers an up-close look at the ways in which global transformations are realized at the local level.

Democracy and Transparency in the Indian State

Democracy and Transparency in the Indian State PDF Author: Prashant Sharma
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317623940
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
The enactment of the national Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005 has been produced, consumed, and celebrated as an important event of democratic deepening in India both in terms of the process that led to its enactment (arising from a grassroots movement) and its outcome (fundamentally altering the citizen--state relationship). This book proposes that the explanatory factors underlying this event may be more complex than imagined thus far. The book discusses how the leadership of the grassroots movement was embedded within the ruling elite and possessed the necessary resources as well as unparalleled access to spaces of power for the movement to be successful. It shows how the democratisation of the higher bureaucracy along with the launch of the economic liberalisation project meant that the urban, educated, high-caste, upper-middle class elite that provided critical support to the demand for an RTI Act was no longer vested in the state and had moved to the private sector. Mirroring this shift, the framing of the RTI Act during the 1990s saw its ambit reduced to the government, even as there was a concomitant push to privatise public goods and services. It goes on to investigate the Indian RTI Act within the global explosion of freedom of information laws over the last two decades, and shows how international pressures had a direct and causal impact both on its content and the timing of its enactment. Taking the production of the RTI Act as a lens, the book argues that while there is much to celebrate in the consolidation of procedural democracy in India over the last six decades, existing social and political structures may limit the extent and forms of democratic deepening occurring in the near future. It will be of interest to those working in the fields of South Asian Law, Asian Politics, and Civil Society.

Democracy and Discontent

Democracy and Discontent PDF Author: Atul Kohli
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521396929
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
Long considered one of the great successes of the developing world, India has more recently experienced growing challenges to political order and stability. Institutional mechanisms for the resolution of conflict have broken down, the civil and police services have become highly politicized, and the state bureaucracy appears incapable of implementing an effective plan for economic development. In this book, Atul Kohli analyzes political change in India from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. Based on research conducted at the local, state and national level, the author analyzes the changing patterns of authority in and between the centre and periphery. He combines rich empirical investigation, extensive interviews and theoretical perspectives in developing a detailed explanation of the growing crisis of governance his research reveals. The book will be of interest to both specialists in Indian politics and to students of comparative politics more generally.

Why Ethnic Parties Succeed

Why Ethnic Parties Succeed PDF Author: Kanchan Chandra
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521891417
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
Why do some ethnic parties succeed in attracting the support of their target ethnic group while others fail? In a world in which ethnic parties flourish in both established and emerging democracies alike, understanding the conditions under which such parties rise and fall is of critical importance to both political scientists and policy makers. Drawing on a study of variation in the performance of ethnic parties in India, this book builds a theory of ethnic party performance in 'patronage democracies'. Chandra shows why individual voters and political entrepreneurs in such democracies condition their strategies not on party ideologies or policy platforms, but on a headcount of co-ethnics and others across party personnel and among the electorate.