Social cleavages and electoral competition in India

A review essay on books by (1) Christophe Jaffrelot, India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in India (New York: Columbia U Press, 2003); (2) Pradeep Chhibber, Democracy without Associations: Transformation of the Party System and Social Cleavages in India (Ann Arbor, MI: U Michigan Press, 2003); & (3) Anirudh Krishna, Active Social Capital: Tracing the Roots of Development and Democracy (New York: Columbia U Press, 2002). Given the great diversity in language, ethnicity, & caste in India, & the resulting millions of possible winning electoral combinations, why is it that in contemporary India we see large statewide & interstate political coalitions built around categories such as "Bahujan" or "Backward Caste" instead of thousands of separate caste parties competing at the regional or zila (district) level? This review assesses how these works address this question in the context of political organization & social cleavages in India, examining the differences in approaches & discussing what still needs to be addressed. Adapted from the source document.