The course aims at enabling students to engage with a range of analytical perspectives and approaches, and to situate the discourse of the formation of India as a sovereign nation-state within the complex political, economic, cultural, and social processes of change. It is important to critically analyze the historical predicaments of partition and its effects on the political and social structure and process in post-colonial India. Sixty years of political history of the Indian State needs to be re- conceptualized in order to understand the trajectory of various social movements, ethnic conflicts, and protests over caste, religion, and language. The course examines the nature of the post-colonial state and the evolution of political institutions, party politics, regional inequalities, and gendered subordinations as well as the macro processes of democratization and secularization of Indian polity and society. To explore and analyze an interface between the political economy and cultural-political processes of the developmental state in India requires an engagement with extremely complex and diverse social and political structures, institutions, and practices. An awareness of the role of the media, non-governmental organizations, civil society, and global institutions is necessary to understand the competing ideologies of political nationalism which have played a significant role in the political and social history of independent India.
Prerequisites:
One introductory survey course in South Asian History or Politics preferred.
Method of presentation:
Lectures, student presentations, seminar discussions, and group participation in case studies.
Required work and form of assessment:
Active participation (20%); midterm exam (25%); final exam (25%); 10-15 page research term paper (30%).
content:
1. Independent India: Making of a Territorial and Political Sovereign Nation-State
The social, political, institutional, and cultural framework of India at the time of independence, and its transformation from a colonial state to an independent sovereign polity. Reading:
Bose, Sugata and Jalal Ayesha (eds.), Nationalism, Democracy and Development: State and Politics in
India (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
Spear, Percival, The Oxford History of Modern India 1740-1975 (New York: Oxford University Press)
2. Nationalist Discourse, Partition, and Its Predicament for Independent India
The legacy of colonialism, nationalism, and partition in the formation of the Indian state. Reading:
Page David et al, The Partition Omnibus (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006)
Pandey Gyanendra, Remembering Partition: Violence, Nationalism and History in India
Chatterjee Partha, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse
3. The Political Economy of Development after Independence: Formative Years
The political and economic compulsions and constraints on the origins and performance of developmental planning during the first three decades. Reading:
Bardhan Pranab K. The Political Economy of Development in India (Oxford University Press, 1984 and new revised edition of 1998)
Byres Terence J. (ed.), The State and Development Planning in India (Oxford University Press, 1994)
Frankel Francine, India’s Political Economy: 1947-2000: The Gradual Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)
Rudolph L. and S.H., In Pursuit of Lakshmi: The Political Economy of the Indian State (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)
4. The Congress: From Movement to One Party Dominance System
The crucial journey of the Congress party as creating the ‘one party dominance system’ in Indian politics for the first two decades after independence. Reading:
Kothari, Rajni, Politics in India
Hasan, Zoya (ed), Party and Party Politics in India
5. Democratic Political Institutions: Their Structures and Practices
A set of democratic political institutions and their importance for the day-to-day functioning of the Indian democracy. Reading:
Kapur Devesh and Pratap Bhanu Mehta (ed.) Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design (OUP, 2006)
Kohli, Atul, The Success of India’s Democracy
6. Caste and Politics in India
The reciprocal relationship between caste and politics in India. Reading:
Rudolph L and S.H., The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967)
Jaffrelot Christophe, India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Low Castes in North Indian Politics.
Srinivas M.M., Caste in Modern India and Other Essays
7. The Politics of ‘Other Backward Castes’ and the Caste Conflict over Protective
Discrimination in Contemporary India; An increase in the caste conflict and the agitation over affirmative action policies of the Indian State in the last two decades. Reading:
Galanter Marc, Competing Equalities: Law and Backward Classes in India
McMillan Alistair, Standing at the Margins: Representation and Electoral Reservation in India (Delhi: OUP,
2006)
Kumar Dharma, The Affirmative Action Debate in India, Asian Survey, 1992
Beteille Andre, The Backward Classes in Contemporary India (OUP, 1992)
8. The Politics of Untouchables, Dalits, and Minorities
The discourse of the structures of subordination, rights of minorities, and the possibility of political transformation. Reading:
Mendelsohn Oliver and Vicziany M, The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India
Chandoke Neera, Beyond Secularism: The Rights of Religious Minorities
Anderson Michael R. and Guha Sumit (ed), Changing Concepts of Rights and Justice in South Asia.
Shah Ghanshyam, Dalit Identity and Politics (New Delhi: Sage, 2002)
9. Class Politics and Unfinished Agenda of Radical Change
The relationship between caste and class conflict and their impact on the agrarian and industrial changes in independent India. Reading:
Frankel Francine and Rao M.S.A (ed), Dominance and State Power in Modern India: Decline of a Social
Order, Vol. 1 and 2 (Oxford University Press)
10. Patriarchy Unbound: Gender and Politics in Contemporary India
The politics of gender and the relationship between law, patriarchy and the state. Reading:
Agnes Flavia, Law and Gender Inequality: The Politics of Women’s Rights in India (Oxford University Press)
Kapadia Karin (ed), The Violence of Development: The Politics of Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India (Kali for Women, 2002)
Nair Janaki and John Mary E (ed.), A Question of Silence: The Sexual Economies of Modern India (Kali for Women)
Agarwal Bina, Gender and Command over Property: An Economic Analysis of South Asia
Sarkar Tanika and Butalia Urvashi (ed.), Women and Hindu Right: A Collection of Essays (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1995)
11. Globalization and Liberalization: Economic Reforms and Their Impact
The nature of economic reforms and the political development since the early 1990s. Reading:
Dasgupta Biplab, Globalization: India’s Adjustment Experience
Jenkins Rob, Democratic Politics and the Economic Reforms in India (Cambridge University Press, 1999) Joshi, Vijay, “India’s Economic Reforms: Progress, Problems and Prospects” in Oxford Development Studies, 26, 2, 1988
Kohli Atul, “The Politics of Economic Liberalization in India” in World Development, 1989
Nayar Baldev Raj, The Politics of Economic Restructuring in India in Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 1992
Sridharan E. “Economic Liberalization and India’s Political Economy: Towards a Paradigm Synthesis” in Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 31, 3, November 1993
12. Rise of Religious Nationalism: Hindutva and the Fate of Secularism in Modern India
Rise of Hindu nationalism since the eighties and its impact on the democratic secular political order of
India. Reading:
Corbridge Stuart and Harris John (ed), Reinventing India: Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and Popular Democracy (Delhi: OUP)
Jafferlot Christophe (eds.), The BJP and the Compulsions of Politics in India
Van der Veer Peter, Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India
Wilkinson Steven I. (ed.), Religious Politics and Communal Violence (OUP, 2005)
Jacobsohn Gary Jeffrey, The Wheel of Law: India’s Secularism in Comparative Constitutional Perspectives (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2003)
13. Ecology and Development: Environmental Movements in India
Various environmental movements in last twenty years have challenged the dominant models of economic development. Reading:
Gadgil, M. and Guha, R.“Ecological Conflicts and the Environmental Movement in India” in Development and Change, Vol 25, 1994
Guha, R. “Ideological Trends in Indian Envriomentalism” in Economic and Political Weekly, December 3, 1988
Gadgil Madhav and Guha Ramachandra, Ecology and Equity
Gadgil M and Guha R, This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India
14. Social Movements, Protests and Dissents
Several new social movements engaging with alternative conceptions of state power and ideologies of resistance. Reading:
Ray Raka and Katzenstein Mary Fainsod (ed), Social Movements in India: Poverty, Power and Politics (Delhi: OUP, 2006)
Shah Ghanshyam (ed.), Social Movements and the State (Sage Publications, 2002) Rao M.S.A. Social Movements in India
Subramanian Narendra, Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization: Political Parties, Citizen and Democracy in South Asia
15. Decentralization, Democratization, and Good Governance: Inter-linkages
Relationship between processes of democratization and decentralization. Reading:
Jayal et al, Local Governance in India: Decentralization and Beyond (Delhi: OUP, 2006) Jha S.N. and Mathur P.C, (ed), Decentralization and Local Politics
Ray Jayant Kumar, India-in Search of Good Governance
Required readings:
See content above.
Recommended readings:
Austin Granville, Working a Democratic Constitution: A History of the Indian Experience
Bagchi, Amiya K. (ed), Economy, Society and Polity: Essays on the Political Economy of Indian Planning (1988)
Bhargava Rajeev (ed), Secularism and Its Critics (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998) Bose S. and Jalal A., Modern South Asia
Brass, Paul R. The New Cambridge History of India: IV.I: The Politics of India Since Independence (Cambridge University Press, 1990)
Frobes Geraldine, The New Cambridge History of India: Women in Modern India
Gandhi and Shah Nivedita, The Issues at Stake: Theory and Practice in the Contemporary Women’s Movement in India
Jafferlot Christophe, The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996)
Jalan Bimal, India’s Economic Crisis: The Way Ahead (1991)
Jeffery, Patricia and Basu, Amrita (ed.), Appropriating Gender: Women’s Activism and politicized Religion in South Asia (1997)
Khilnani Sunil, The Idea of India
Kohli Atul, “Democracy, Economic Growth and Inequality in India’s Development” in World Politics, 1980) Kumar Radha, The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women’s Rights and Feminism in India, 1800-1900
Mooij Jos (ed), The Politics of Economic Reforms in India
Nayar Baldev Raj, Globalisation and Nationalism (Sage Publications, 2001)
Nayyar Deepak, Economic Liberalization in India
Omvedt, Gail. Violence against Women: New Movements and New Theories in India
Sathyamurthy T.V. (ed), Social Change and Political Discourse in India: Structures of Power, Movements of Resistance, Vol 1-4 (Delhi: Oxford University Press)
Shiva Vandana, Staying Alive: Women Ecology and Development in India
Varshney Ashutosh, Jeffrey D.Sachs and Bajpai Nirupam (ed), India in the Era of Economic Reforms
Vaidyanathan, A. The Indian Economy: Crisis, Response and Prospects (1995)
Zavos John, The Emergence of Hindu Nationalism in India
Other Resources:
Academic Journals
Asian Survey Contemporary South Asia Economic and Political Weekly
Frontline
India Today
Journal of Asian Studies
Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
Mainstream
Modern Asian Studies
Newsline
Seminar
Atlases and Encyclopedias
A Social and Economic Atlas of India
A Historical Atlas of South Asia
Robinson, Francis (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
The course aims at enabling students to engage with a range of analytical perspectives and approaches, and to situate the discourse of the formation of India as a sovereign nation-state within the complex political, economic, cultural, and social processes of change. It is important to critically analyze the historical predicaments of partition and its effects on the political and social structure and process in post-colonial India. Sixty years of political history of the Indian State needs to be re- conceptualized in order to understand the trajectory of various social movements, ethnic conflicts, and protests over caste, religion, and language. The course examines the nature of the post-colonial state and the evolution of political institutions, party politics, regional inequalities, and gendered subordinations as well as the macro processes of democratization and secularization of Indian polity and society. To explore and analyze an interface between the political economy and cultural-political processes of the developmental state in India requires an engagement with extremely complex and diverse social and political structures, institutions, and practices. An awareness of the role of the media, non-governmental organizations, civil society, and global institutions is necessary to understand the competing ideologies of political nationalism which have played a significant role in the political and social history of independent India.
One introductory survey course in South Asian History or Politics preferred.
Lectures, student presentations, seminar discussions, and group participation in case studies.
Active participation (20%); midterm exam (25%); final exam (25%); 10-15 page research term paper (30%).
1. Independent India: Making of a Territorial and Political Sovereign Nation-State
The social, political, institutional, and cultural framework of India at the time of independence, and its transformation from a colonial state to an independent sovereign polity.
Reading:
Bose, Sugata and Jalal Ayesha (eds.), Nationalism, Democracy and Development: State and Politics in
India (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
Spear, Percival, The Oxford History of Modern India 1740-1975 (New York: Oxford University Press)
2. Nationalist Discourse, Partition, and Its Predicament for Independent India
The legacy of colonialism, nationalism, and partition in the formation of the Indian state.
Reading:
Page David et al, The Partition Omnibus (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006)
Pandey Gyanendra, Remembering Partition: Violence, Nationalism and History in India
Chatterjee Partha, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse
3. The Political Economy of Development after Independence: Formative Years
The political and economic compulsions and constraints on the origins and performance of developmental planning during the first three decades.
Reading:
Bardhan Pranab K. The Political Economy of Development in India (Oxford University Press, 1984 and new revised edition of 1998)
Byres Terence J. (ed.), The State and Development Planning in India (Oxford University Press, 1994)
Frankel Francine, India’s Political Economy: 1947-2000: The Gradual Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)
Rudolph L. and S.H., In Pursuit of Lakshmi: The Political Economy of the Indian State (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)
4. The Congress: From Movement to One Party Dominance System
The crucial journey of the Congress party as creating the ‘one party dominance system’ in Indian politics for the first two decades after independence.
Reading:
Kothari, Rajni, Politics in India
Hasan, Zoya (ed), Party and Party Politics in India
5. Democratic Political Institutions: Their Structures and Practices
A set of democratic political institutions and their importance for the day-to-day functioning of the Indian democracy.
Reading:
Kapur Devesh and Pratap Bhanu Mehta (ed.) Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design (OUP, 2006)
Kohli, Atul, The Success of India’s Democracy
6. Caste and Politics in India
The reciprocal relationship between caste and politics in India.
Reading:
Rudolph L and S.H., The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967)
Jaffrelot Christophe, India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Low Castes in North Indian Politics.
Srinivas M.M., Caste in Modern India and Other Essays
7. The Politics of ‘Other Backward Castes’ and the Caste Conflict over Protective
Discrimination in Contemporary India; An increase in the caste conflict and the agitation over affirmative action policies of the Indian State in the last two decades.
Reading:
Galanter Marc, Competing Equalities: Law and Backward Classes in India
McMillan Alistair, Standing at the Margins: Representation and Electoral Reservation in India (Delhi: OUP,
2006)
Kumar Dharma, The Affirmative Action Debate in India, Asian Survey, 1992
Beteille Andre, The Backward Classes in Contemporary India (OUP, 1992)
8. The Politics of Untouchables, Dalits, and Minorities
The discourse of the structures of subordination, rights of minorities, and the possibility of political transformation.
Reading:
Mendelsohn Oliver and Vicziany M, The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India
Chandoke Neera, Beyond Secularism: The Rights of Religious Minorities
Anderson Michael R. and Guha Sumit (ed), Changing Concepts of Rights and Justice in South Asia.
Shah Ghanshyam, Dalit Identity and Politics (New Delhi: Sage, 2002)
9. Class Politics and Unfinished Agenda of Radical Change
The relationship between caste and class conflict and their impact on the agrarian and industrial changes in independent India.
Reading:
Frankel Francine and Rao M.S.A (ed), Dominance and State Power in Modern India: Decline of a Social
Order, Vol. 1 and 2 (Oxford University Press)
10. Patriarchy Unbound: Gender and Politics in Contemporary India
The politics of gender and the relationship between law, patriarchy and the state.
Reading:
Agnes Flavia, Law and Gender Inequality: The Politics of Women’s Rights in India (Oxford University Press)
Kapadia Karin (ed), The Violence of Development: The Politics of Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India (Kali for Women, 2002)
Nair Janaki and John Mary E (ed.), A Question of Silence: The Sexual Economies of Modern India (Kali for Women)
Agarwal Bina, Gender and Command over Property: An Economic Analysis of South Asia
Sarkar Tanika and Butalia Urvashi (ed.), Women and Hindu Right: A Collection of Essays (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1995)
11. Globalization and Liberalization: Economic Reforms and Their Impact
The nature of economic reforms and the political development since the early 1990s.
Reading:
Dasgupta Biplab, Globalization: India’s Adjustment Experience
Jenkins Rob, Democratic Politics and the Economic Reforms in India (Cambridge University Press, 1999) Joshi, Vijay, “India’s Economic Reforms: Progress, Problems and Prospects” in Oxford Development Studies, 26, 2, 1988
Kohli Atul, “The Politics of Economic Liberalization in India” in World Development, 1989
Nayar Baldev Raj, The Politics of Economic Restructuring in India in Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 1992
Sridharan E. “Economic Liberalization and India’s Political Economy: Towards a Paradigm Synthesis” in Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 31, 3, November 1993
12. Rise of Religious Nationalism: Hindutva and the Fate of Secularism in Modern India
Rise of Hindu nationalism since the eighties and its impact on the democratic secular political order of
India.
Reading:
Corbridge Stuart and Harris John (ed), Reinventing India: Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and Popular Democracy (Delhi: OUP)
Jafferlot Christophe (eds.), The BJP and the Compulsions of Politics in India
Van der Veer Peter, Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India
Wilkinson Steven I. (ed.), Religious Politics and Communal Violence (OUP, 2005)
Jacobsohn Gary Jeffrey, The Wheel of Law: India’s Secularism in Comparative Constitutional Perspectives (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2003)
13. Ecology and Development: Environmental Movements in India
Various environmental movements in last twenty years have challenged the dominant models of economic development.
Reading:
Gadgil, M. and Guha, R.“Ecological Conflicts and the Environmental Movement in India” in Development and Change, Vol 25, 1994
Guha, R. “Ideological Trends in Indian Envriomentalism” in Economic and Political Weekly, December 3, 1988
Gadgil Madhav and Guha Ramachandra, Ecology and Equity
Gadgil M and Guha R, This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India
14. Social Movements, Protests and Dissents
Several new social movements engaging with alternative conceptions of state power and ideologies of resistance.
Reading:
Ray Raka and Katzenstein Mary Fainsod (ed), Social Movements in India: Poverty, Power and Politics (Delhi: OUP, 2006)
Shah Ghanshyam (ed.), Social Movements and the State (Sage Publications, 2002) Rao M.S.A. Social Movements in India
Subramanian Narendra, Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization: Political Parties, Citizen and Democracy in South Asia
15. Decentralization, Democratization, and Good Governance: Inter-linkages
Relationship between processes of democratization and decentralization.
Reading:
Jayal et al, Local Governance in India: Decentralization and Beyond (Delhi: OUP, 2006) Jha S.N. and Mathur P.C, (ed), Decentralization and Local Politics
Ray Jayant Kumar, India-in Search of Good Governance
See content above.
Academic Journals
Asian Survey Contemporary South Asia Economic and Political Weekly
Frontline
India Today
Journal of Asian Studies
Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
Mainstream
Modern Asian Studies
Newsline
Seminar
Atlases and Encyclopedias
A Social and Economic Atlas of India
A Historical Atlas of South Asia
Robinson, Francis (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
Website for access to Indian newspapers:
www.onlinenewspapers.com//india.htm