Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India

Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics

by Steven I. Wilkinson

Revealing why Hindu-Muslim riots in India break out when and where they do, Steven Wilkinson demonstrates why some state governments in India prevent Hindu-Muslim riots while others do not or even help to incite violence. Wilkinson asserts that riots are manipulated to help win elections, and that state governments decide whether to stop them--depending on electoral calculations concerning the loss or gain of votes. He tests this claim using a dataset on riots and their causes as well as case studies of several Indian states.

Genres: India, Politics, Political Science, Nonfiction, Research

312 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1984

Reviews

[Aryan Prasad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style is simple, jargon free and fluid, a lot of stats are used but they do no break down the flow of the book. However I have certain problem with Author's thesis, his discardment of lack of state capacity seems to need more analysis (his reasoning is that WB with less state capacity does not have much Hindu Muslim voice, which sadly is not the case in present, ignores that perhaps this low capacity is a response of this phenomena, any serious analysis needs some detailed time series analysis) nor do I agree his overuse of "Effective Number of Political Parties", the concept may be theoretically sounds (but the book does not make a case for it, except a one line footnote and the formula) but to refer Kerala as a Multi (4.5+) cornered elections and Odisha as bi-party elections seems dishonest to me.

Nor were authors conclusion and predictions any good. UP have not seen rise of "multiple small caste based parties" rather the 3.5 cornered elections fights have turned into BJP vs SP++ from last two election cycles with smaller parties either dying or merging/allying with the big shots. Reverting of Allahabad's name to Praygraj have not sparked any violence. Over-presentation, communal veto and electorates are solution to nothing as British Era have shown (author tries to downplay the motives for their introduction by colonial rulers and the final toll it took on the nation.)

Despite all this the data in the book are sound, methodologies pass the common sense test for most part and one can make their interceptions from reading the book.

[Chetana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book ticks all the boxes for good research, was a super insightful read.