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Battles Half Won: India's Improbable Democracy
In this lively collection of essays, Ashutosh Varshney analyses the deepening of Indian democracy since 1947 and the challenges this has created. The overview traces the forging and consolidation of India’s improbable democracy.
Other essays examine themes ranging from Hindu nationalism, caste politics and ethnic conflict to the north–south economic divergence and politics of economic reforms.
The book offers original insights on several key questions: how federalism has handled linguistic diversity thus far, and why governance and regional underdevelopment will drive the formation of new states now; how coalition making induces ideological moderation in the politics of the BJP; how the political empowerment of the Dalits has not ensured their economic transformation; how the social revolution in the south led to its overtaking the north; and how the 1991 economic reforms succeeded because they affected elite, not mass, politics.
Lucid and erudite, Battles Half Won brilliantly portrays the successes and failures of India’s experience in a new, comparative perspective, enriching our understanding of the idea of democracy.
Other essays examine themes ranging from Hindu nationalism, caste politics and ethnic conflict to the north–south economic divergence and politics of economic reforms.
The book offers original insights on several key questions: how federalism has handled linguistic diversity thus far, and why governance and regional underdevelopment will drive the formation of new states now; how coalition making induces ideological moderation in the politics of the BJP; how the political empowerment of the Dalits has not ensured their economic transformation; how the social revolution in the south led to its overtaking the north; and how the 1991 economic reforms succeeded because they affected elite, not mass, politics.
Lucid and erudite, Battles Half Won brilliantly portrays the successes and failures of India’s experience in a new, comparative perspective, enriching our understanding of the idea of democracy.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 2013
12 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
About the author
Ashutosh Varshney
17 books14 followersSol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Department of Political Science, and Watson Institute of International Studies Director, Brown-India Initiative, Brown University.
EDUCATION:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
Ph.D. in Political Science.
S.M. in Political Science.
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
M.Phil. Studies, School of International Studies.
University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India.
Masters in Political Science, and B.A.
EDUCATION:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
Ph.D. in Political Science.
S.M. in Political Science.
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
M.Phil. Studies, School of International Studies.
University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India.
Masters in Political Science, and B.A.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 30, 2025
In one sentence, this book is meticulously researched, almost impartial, statistically established marksheet of Post-Independence failings and gains of developing democratic India, mainly in the sector of affirmative action, poverty alleviation, economic reforms and social dynamism.
Through the process, the underlying agenda and practical improbabilities behind the grand political promises and populist schemes have been brought to the forefront without making it dense with jargon and boring (to a layman like me) incomprehensible theories of statecraft.
Conceptual bliss for people who want to taste this slow, stumbling , hugely inaccessible but all embracing gargantuan way of governance that is Indian democracy.
Through the process, the underlying agenda and practical improbabilities behind the grand political promises and populist schemes have been brought to the forefront without making it dense with jargon and boring (to a layman like me) incomprehensible theories of statecraft.
Conceptual bliss for people who want to taste this slow, stumbling , hugely inaccessible but all embracing gargantuan way of governance that is Indian democracy.
January 30, 2025
Brilliantly argued and most incisive analysis presented on the polity of India. There are a plenty of places where the author's arguments leave you affected with patriotism and goosebumps. Next to Ramachandra Guha's 'India after Gandhi', Sunil Khilnani's 'Idea of India', this is the best book to understand and appreciate the evolution of India as a democracy.
A full-blown review soon.
October 18, 2020
What an amazing piece of scholarship !!! I am half way through the book and have set to write this review. That's how excited I am right now. Thank you prof. Varshney for breaking it all down for us
I always felt democracy is the best and that Nationalism is evil. I never got to do any digging or cared to understand what went behind these schools of thinking. Now I do. Varshney puts his magnifying glass on and dissects facts with reason in his pursuit of understanding democracy and its myriad ways. The result is an amazing work of non-fiction that explains so many ill-explained paradigms in our polity, culture, society, voting preferences, ethnic conflict, territorialism, secularism and nationhood
Must read for all politicians, secularists, nationalists, political philosophers, priests, clerics and all citizens of this complex salad-bowl and a melting-pot of a country.
I always felt democracy is the best and that Nationalism is evil. I never got to do any digging or cared to understand what went behind these schools of thinking. Now I do. Varshney puts his magnifying glass on and dissects facts with reason in his pursuit of understanding democracy and its myriad ways. The result is an amazing work of non-fiction that explains so many ill-explained paradigms in our polity, culture, society, voting preferences, ethnic conflict, territorialism, secularism and nationhood
Must read for all politicians, secularists, nationalists, political philosophers, priests, clerics and all citizens of this complex salad-bowl and a melting-pot of a country.
January 28, 2016
Very insightful perspectives on the idea of Indian nationalism, the success and failure of India's federal project and the expanding social cleavages of an evolving continent-like polity. That India has survived as a robust political experiment and continues to grow and thrive despite its poverty and deeply hierarchical social structures is a product of its unwavering commitment to democracy, even if it does not always result in perfect outcomes.
Politics matters - everybody knows that - but true to his scholarly credentials, Varshney backs up his argument with numerous incisive findings based on data and anecdotes that have come to define India's post independence history.
Politics matters - everybody knows that - but true to his scholarly credentials, Varshney backs up his argument with numerous incisive findings based on data and anecdotes that have come to define India's post independence history.
July 15, 2014
Lots of refreshing insights on the working of Indian democracy and federalism. Ashutosh Varshney is mandatory reading to understand the Indian political system better.
December 28, 2019
A mixture of mind numbingly boring econ chapters and rather fascinating chapters on castes and differences around India.
A lot of the conclusions seem dated now that Modi and the BJP are doing a lot of things that seemed unthinkable or unlikely when these essays were published. I'd be curious to hear Varshney's thoughts on the state of India today as we embark on Modi's second term.
A lot of the conclusions seem dated now that Modi and the BJP are doing a lot of things that seemed unthinkable or unlikely when these essays were published. I'd be curious to hear Varshney's thoughts on the state of India today as we embark on Modi's second term.
October 9, 2018
I've learnt deep insights on our Nation's journey since Independence.
January 29, 2014
A lot of this is a rehash of things Varshney has written elsewhere. I found the chapters on the trade-offs between economic performance and democracy rather boring. However, there are some good chapters on the differences in caste political dynamics between north and south India, the lack of Dalit entrepreneurship and the political economy of the reforms pursued under Rao and Vajpayee.
March 27, 2014
Excellent read, especially on the eve of India's most monumental elections.
Sharp, crisp arguments. Intellectually sound, and backed by adequate data. Balanced perspective, gives fresh ideas.
Sharp, crisp arguments. Intellectually sound, and backed by adequate data. Balanced perspective, gives fresh ideas.
May 18, 2014
excellent book on the evolution of Indian democracy since Independence.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews