How can we model ethnic democracy? An application to contemporary India

Adeney, Katharine

Abstract

The status of India as the world's largest democracy is often lauded, but the re‐election of the overtly Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 has increased concerns about the threat to India's multinational democracy and the rule of law. India is not the only democracy facing challenges related to majoritarian nationalism; there has been a worldwide rise in the language of majority ‘rights’ in democratic systems. The importance of analysing the extent to which the rights of majorities are being increasingly institutionalized within democratic systems has therefore increased. It is vitally important to identify whether tendencies toward ethnic democracy are increasing (and the conditions under which they do so). There may well be red flags that emerge in democratic systems, heralding the potential direction of travel. This article proposes a methodology to identify degrees of ethnic democracy using a combination of formal and informal measures and illustrates it by assessing India through an examination of anti‐Muslim policies and rhetoric.

Citation

Adeney, K. (2021). How can we model ethnic democracy? An application to contemporary India. Nations and Nationalism, 27(2), 393-411. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12654

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 26, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jul 24, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Deposit Date: May 27, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 25, 2022
• Journal: Nations and Nationalism
• Print ISSN: 1354-5078
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-8129
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 393-411
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12654
• Keywords: Political Science and International Relations; Geography, Planning and Development; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4517958
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14698129