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Making sense of Indian democracy
Yogendra Yadav combines the insights of political science with the political sense of an activist. This book invites us to take a fresh look at India’s first republic, 1950–2019.
The first section provides a historical overview, the second a comparative overview situating Indian political practices next to those in diverse countries. The third focuses on theory and method to look at the specific nature of the Indian state; at polls, predictions, and psephology; and at the virtues and limits of anthropological fieldwork for understanding political praxis. The last section proposes electoral and democratic reforms that seem desirable and feasible if Indian democracy is to persist.
Indian politics is usually written about by journalists and scholars. Yogendra Yadav is almost singular in the Indian political world. Possessing the apparatus of a university professor, he is also a respected TV commentator, a psephologist, and an original thinker. All these aspects are apparent in this book.
How did we end up here? This book responds to a question that troubles every student of Indian democracy today. It does so by:
—Tracing the history of India's creolised democracy.
—Placing its record in comparative perspective.
—Assessing the relevant theoreties and methodologies.
—Saying what is and what is not to be done.
The first section provides a historical overview, the second a comparative overview situating Indian political practices next to those in diverse countries. The third focuses on theory and method to look at the specific nature of the Indian state; at polls, predictions, and psephology; and at the virtues and limits of anthropological fieldwork for understanding political praxis. The last section proposes electoral and democratic reforms that seem desirable and feasible if Indian democracy is to persist.
Indian politics is usually written about by journalists and scholars. Yogendra Yadav is almost singular in the Indian political world. Possessing the apparatus of a university professor, he is also a respected TV commentator, a psephologist, and an original thinker. All these aspects are apparent in this book.
How did we end up here? This book responds to a question that troubles every student of Indian democracy today. It does so by:
—Tracing the history of India's creolised democracy.
—Placing its record in comparative perspective.
—Assessing the relevant theoreties and methodologies.
—Saying what is and what is not to be done.
422 pages, Hardcover
Published August 8, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 9, 2020
The take of the book is very unconventional and rather academic. But this does not mean that it is away from practical reality or fails to explain what the title is all about.
Starting from the dichotomy of the infant democracy and its various institutions in the creche it reminds the modern, 'woke' and thinkers that there are no 'good old days' to go back to, however gloomy the current day picture might be. The academic research papers and the timeline of the original writing makes it a very riveting and sometime quite 'boring' (sorry for this word for a book which I ended up learning so much from) but the author brings out his points without much bias and quite cleverly by walking a very narrow plank of right way rather than the easy or popular way.
Over the course of different essays various scholarly articles are quoted and liberally used which makes it an aggregation of a very large set of political science scholars and many of the ancillary fields.
The end deals with the present day situation and what needs to be done to set a democratic institution and process that can last and have strong foundations that can outlive its authors and the provide a idea of what 21st century democracy will look in India.
Starting from the dichotomy of the infant democracy and its various institutions in the creche it reminds the modern, 'woke' and thinkers that there are no 'good old days' to go back to, however gloomy the current day picture might be. The academic research papers and the timeline of the original writing makes it a very riveting and sometime quite 'boring' (sorry for this word for a book which I ended up learning so much from) but the author brings out his points without much bias and quite cleverly by walking a very narrow plank of right way rather than the easy or popular way.
Over the course of different essays various scholarly articles are quoted and liberally used which makes it an aggregation of a very large set of political science scholars and many of the ancillary fields.
The end deals with the present day situation and what needs to be done to set a democratic institution and process that can last and have strong foundations that can outlive its authors and the provide a idea of what 21st century democracy will look in India.
December 6, 2023
It is apparent that the author was compelled to create this assortment of essays by the publisher. Some essays are interesting, almost all of them are quite technical and not meant for the average reader, but my biggest issue is that it’s severely dated. And no attempts to create a post script on these dated accounts has been made. As a compilation of the author’s old essays, this is a great resource. But that is certainly not what I’d imagined to get when I picked up this book, perhaps the fault lies with me alone.
March 8, 2022
It is a compilation of Yogendra Yadav's old papers. I had already read the one about state-nation before. Apart from the Introduction, none of the writing is contemporary. It can help you make up your own ideas about the state of Indian democracy today by comparing it to the descriptions of Indian democracy then. If you are looking for something to help you make sense of Indian democracy today this probably isn't the book for you (never mind what the title says).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews