Political Science

Abstract

Indian Democracy is the second of a four-volume research surveys and explorations in political science conducted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). This volume examines key issues confronting Indian democracy and provides an analytical overview of the changing perceptions of it over the past two decades. Once regarded as an exception to the dominant conceptions of the theory and practice of democracy, India over the past two decades, has come to be seen as a successful democracy. This offers important lessons to countries with diversities and problems of economic development. Essays presented in this volume explore the literature on the Constitution and its institutions, the party system, elections, civil society initiatives, and federalism in India. Besides evaluating the state of research on India's democracy and providing a bibliographic guide, it identifies the lacunae in the field and explores lines of future enquiry.