02184nam a2200205Ia 450000500170000000800410001702000180005808200200007610000250009624501260012125000220024726000570026952014010032665000280172765000290175565000300178494200080181499900170182295201390183920261005143246.0260603s9999||||xx |||||||||||||| ||und||  a9780472088270  223a324.254 CHI  aChhibber, Pradeep K. 0aDemocracy without Associationsb: Transformation of the Party System and Social Cleavages in Indiac/ Pradeep K. Chhibber  aPaperback Edition  aAnn Arbor, MIb: University of Michigan Pressc,2001  andia's party system has undergone a profound transformation over the last decade. The Congress Party, a catch-all party that brought independence in 1947 and governed India for much of the period since then, no longer dominates the electoral scene. Political parties which draw support from particular caste and religious groups are now more powerful than ever before. Democracy Without Associations explains why religious and caste-based political parties come to dominate the electoral landscape in 1990s India and why catch-all parties have declined. Arguing that political parties and state policy can make some social divisions more salient than others and also determine how these divisions affect the political system, the author offers an explanation for the relationship between electoral competition and the politicization of social differences in India. He notes that the relationship between social cleavages and the party system is not axiomatic and that political parties can influence the links they have to social cleavages. The argument developed for India is also used to account for emergence of class-based parties in Spain and the electoral success of a religious party in Algeria.
Democracy Without Associations will interest scholars and students of Indian politics, and party politics, as well as those interested in the impact of social divisions on the political system.  aPolitics and Government  a Political Parties India  aSocial Cleavages in India  cRBK  c68661d68661  00102ddc4071aSNULbSNULd2026-06-03l0o324.254 CHIpG7956r2026-06-03 15:18:23w2026-06-03yRBKzProf. Romila Thapar's Collection