Coalition Politics in India: Problems and Prospects

In stock

Free & Quick Delivery Worldwide

With the replacement of the Dominant Party System of India, minority and/or coalition governments in New Delhi have become the order of the day. Except for the Congress Minority Government of P.V. Narsimha Rao and National Democratic Alliance Government of Atal Behari Vajpayee, all such governments since 1989 have been unstable. Yet instability apart, coalition governments have been effective in enhancing democratic legitimacy, representativeness and national unity. Major policy shifts like neo-liberal economic reforms, federal decentring, and grass roots decentralization, in theory or practice, are largely attributable to the onset of federal coalitional governance. Coalition governments in states and at the centre have also facilitated gradual transition of the Marxist-left and the Hindu-right into the political establishment, and thus contributed to the integration of the party system as well as the nation. The same major national parties which initially rejected the idea of coalition politics have today accepted it and are maturing into skilled and virtuoso performers at the game. In a rather short span of over a decade, India has witnessed coalition governments of three major muted hues: (a) middle-of-the-road Centrist Congress Minority Government of P.V. Narsimha Rao, going against its Left Centre of reputation, initiated neo-liberal economic reforms in 1991; (b) three Left-of-centre governments formed by the Janata-Dal-led National/United Front; and (c) two Right-of-Centre coalition governments formed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance under Atal Behari Vajpayee, a votary of secular version of Hindu nationalism. In the wake of the decline of Congress Dominance, the fragmentation of the National Party System and the emergence of party systems at the regional level have turned India into a chequered federal chessboard. The past and likely future patterns of coalition governments in New Delhi are suggestive of at least three models of power sharing: (a) coalition of more or less equal partners, e.g. the National Front and the United Front, (b) coalition of relatively smaller parties led by a major party, e.g. National Democratic Alliance; and (c) coalition of relatively smaller parties facilitated but not necessarily led by a prime minister from the major party, e.g. the coalition of parties formed in 2004 around the Indian National Congress, avowing secular Indian Nationalism. The fifteen papers in this book analyse the various dimensions of coalition government at the centre and in some of the states of the Indian federation against the background of a theoretical framework that seeks to integrate coalitions among parties, castes and communities and tribes, as well as classes at electoral, parliamentary, and cabinet levels.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anil Mishra

Anil Mishra, Department of Political Science, PG-DAV College, New Delhi.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mahendra Prasad Singh

M.P. Singh is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi and specializes in Indian and Canadian politics and Philosophy of Science. He was the Head of the Department of Political Science and the Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at the University, and a Director of the Indian Council of social Science Research. He has authored, edited, and co-edited several books on Indian politics and contributed scholarly papers in professional journals in India and North America.

reviews

0 in total

There are no reviews yet.

Bibliographic information

Title
Coalition Politics in India: Problems and Prospects
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
8173045739
Length
338p., Tables; Index; 23cm.
Subjects