Power-Sharing in the World's Largest Democracy: Informal Consociationalism in India (and Its Decline?)

Adeney, Katharine; Swenden, Wilfried

Abstract

© 2019 Swiss Political Science Association India is one of the most diverse countries of the world but operates with a majoritarian Westminster constitution and simple plurality electoral system, albeit also with a federal structure. It was eventually coded as consociational by Arend Lijphart (1996) but this coding was questioned by authors such as Wilkinson (2000) and Adeney (2002). This article assesses the nature of both de jure and de facto power-sharing in India over its 70 years of independence and tracks the evolution of de jure and de facto power-sharing in relation to four dimensions of diversity: religion, caste, territory and language. It questions whether the electoral success of Hindu nationalism and the increasing acceptance of ethnic majoritarianism has reduced the degree of power-sharing in India.

Citation

Adeney, K., & Swenden, W. (2019). Power-Sharing in the World's Largest Democracy: Informal Consociationalism in India (and Its Decline?). Swiss Political Science Review, 25(4), 450-475. https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12360

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 24, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jul 8, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Deposit Date: May 24, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 9, 2020
• Journal: Swiss Political Science Review
• Electronic ISSN: 1662-6370
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 450-475
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12360
• Keywords: Political Science and International Relations
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2090348
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/spsr.12360
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Adeney, K. and Swenden, W. (2019), Power?Sharing in the World's Largest Democracy: Informal Consociationalism in India (and Its Decline?). Swiss Polit Sci Rev. , which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12360. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions