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The Puzzle of Indian Democracy: A Consociational Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Arend Lijphart
Arend Lijphart*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Abstract

India has been the one major deviant case for consociational (power-sharing) theory, and its sheer size makes the exception especially damaging. A deeply divided society with, supposedly, a mainly majoritarian type of democracy, India nevertheless has been able to maintain its democratic system. Careful examination reveals, however, that Indian democracy has displayed all four crucial elements of power-sharing theory. In fact, it was a perfectly and thoroughly consociational system during its first two decades. From the late 1960s on, although India has remained basically consociational, some of its power-sharing elements have weakened under the pressure of greater mass mobilization. Concomitantly, in accordance with consociational theory, intergroup hostility and violence have increased. Therefore, India is not a deviant case for consociational theory but, instead, an impressive confirming case.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , June 1996 , pp. 258 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1996

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