Multinational Democratic Federations: Comparing India with Multi-level Systems from the Global North

Adeney, Katharine; Swenden, Wilfried

Abstract

In this article, we compare the Indian experience with that of some of the multinational and multi-level polities from the Global North, namely Belgium, Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom. We first summarize the essence of multinationalism. Drawing from our comparative examples of the Global North we then show how dominant narratives of state nationalism condition the extent to which the state can accommodate plurinational difference through self-rule, shared rule and ethno-symbolic recognition within these states, and then compare and contrast this with the Indian experience. Despite the stickiness of elite narratives on the meaning of the state during state formation and democratization, we highlight the ability of electoral competition to push multi-level politics into a more accommodative or majoritarian direction. We illustrate this with reference to India including the 2024 General Election Outcome.

Citation

Adeney, K., & Swenden, W. (2024). Multinational Democratic Federations: Comparing India with Multi-level Systems from the Global North. Studies in Indian Politics, 12(2), 164-182. https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230241291357

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 17, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Nov 11, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-12
• Deposit Date: Sep 18, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 18, 2024
• Journal: Studies in Indian Politics
• Print ISSN: 2321-0230
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 164-182
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230241291357
• Keywords: Federalism; nationalism; party competition; ethno-territorial difference; accommodation; majoritarianism
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/39720736
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/23210230241291357