1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910779920703321

Autore

Jenkins Rob <1965->

Titolo

Democratic politics and economic reform in India / / Rob Jenkins

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 1999

ISBN

0-521-65987-6

0-511-60587-0

0-511-15182-9

0-511-05203-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (ix, 250 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Contemporary South Asia ; ; 5

Disciplina

338.954/009/049

Soggetti

Democracy - India

Free enterprise - India

India Politics and government 1977-

India Economic policy 1991-

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-244) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preliminaries; Contents; Acknowledgements; Map States of the Indian federal union; 1 Introduction; 2 The evolution of economic reform in India; 3 Theoretical and comparative perspectives on the politics of economic reform; 4 Political incentives: elite perceptions and the calculus of survival; 5 Political institutions: federalism, informal networks, and the management of dissent; 6 Political skills: introducing reform by stealth; 7 Implications; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Successive Indian governments, from right and left, have remained committed to market-oriented reform since its introduction in 1991. In a well-argued, accessible and sometimes controversial examination of the political dynamics which underlie that commitment, Rob Jenkins challenges existing theories of the relationship between democracy and economic liberalisation. He contends that while democracy and liberalisation are no longer considered incompatible, theorizing over-emphasizes democracy's more wholesome aspects while underestimating its practioners' reliance on obfuscating tactics to defuse political resistance to policy shifts. By focusing on formal political systems, existing research ignores the value of informal



institutions. In India it is these institutions which have driven economic elites towards negotiation, while allowing governing elites to divide the opponents of reform through a range of political tactics. In fact, the author argues, it is precisely through such political manoeuvring that democracy survives.