Elections, Parties, and Coalitions in India: Theory and Recent History

This book on India’s recent experience with elections, parties, and coalitions consists of ten papers that cover two broad areas – elections and voting behaviour, and political parties and coalition politics. It presents the evolution of key elections and shifts in voting patterns in the post-Congress-dominance period since 1989, showing how these have led to the rise or decline of parties; to a reshaped party system; and to particular patterns of coalition politics and types of coalition and/or minority governments.
The book also shows how coalition politics has enabled the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties, enabled a revival of the Congress from 2004 to 2014, and affected elections and the party system in reverse.
All the papers in this book undertake empirical analysis of elections and the party system – including origins, key elections, party behaviour, coalition patterns, and political finance – and are situated within the relevant theoretical and comparative literature.
This collection makes interconnected historical, conceptual, theoretical, and empirical arguments in relation to Indian politics. It helps us make sense of the evolution of the post-1989 party system and is indispensable for scholars and students of Indian politics.