Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India

Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics

by Kanchan Chandra

Drawing on a study of variation in the performance of four ethnic parties in India, this book develops a theory of ethnic party performance in "patronage democracies"--a family of democracies with distinct patterns of political behavior as well as a new interpretation of Indian democracy. Demonstrating the connection between India's state-dominated economy and the behavior of its voters and politicians, it includes an extensive study of the Bahujan Samaj Party and contemporary ethnic politics in India.

Genres: Political Science

368 pages, Paperback

First published March 22, 2004

Reviews

[Izzy G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another fire read from a fire syllabus. Chandra's writing style is much clearer than Dan Horowitz's, interesting to compare them.

[Letitia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chandra makes a credible and thoroughly researched argument for the role of caste/class/ethnic identity in patronage democracies. Her case study is Uttar Pradesh, where the Dalit identity has come to be a politically powerful label, and membership of this group has shifted from being among the oppressed to being among the politically enfranchised. The content and argument are very interesting, though her presentation of data is rather dry and confusing.

Used in thesis research for Jackson School of Int'l Studies: University of Washington.

[Dylan Groves · Rating 3 out of 5]

because their ethnic group is big enough, and because they have internally competitive meritocracies that allow them to promote representatives of ethnic subdivisions within the party hierarchy, credibly signaling their commitment to ethnic patronage.