Companion to Indian Democracy: Resilience Fragility Ambivalence

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the contemporary experiences of democracy in India. It explores the modes by which democracy as an idea and as a practice is interpreted enforced and lived in India’s current political climate. The book employs ‘case studies’ as a methodological vantage point to evolve an innovative conceptual framework for the study of democracy in India. The chapters unpack a diverse range of themes such as democracy and Dalits; agriculture new sociality and communal violence in rural areas; changing nature of political communication in India; role of anti-nuclear movements in democracies; issues of subaltern citizen’s voice impaired governance and the development paradigm; free speech and segregation in the public sphere; and the surveillance state and Indian democracy. These thematic explorations are arranged in an engaging sequence to offer a multifaceted narrative of Indian democracy especially in relation to the recent debates on citizenship and constitutionalism. A key critical intervention on contemporary politics in South Asia this book will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of political studies political science political sociology comparative government and politics sociology social anthropology public administration public policy and South Asia studies. It will also be of immense interest to policymakers journalists think tanks bureaucrats and organizations working in the area.