Today, India is widely celebrated as the world's largest democracy. However, not all groups experience India's political institutions the same way. This book draws on extensive interviews with longtime Dalit (ex-Untouchable) activists and original archives of party documents to explore the democratic transformation of one of India's most prominent Dalit-led parties, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK; Liberation Panthers Party).
Through a historical and ethnographic account of the VCK's transition from boycotts to ballots, this book provides a novel perspective on India's democratic trajectory, as well as its limits. Whereas VCK leaders initially viewed elections as an instrument to spur development and contest power asymmetries, they would come to recognize that democratic institutions can equally function as a means of containment, and control.
The research shows how democratic politics opened new space for Dalit political advancement while simultaneously imposing unique constraints on these leaders that would reconfigure very nature of their politics.
| ISBN: | 9781009567251 |
| Publication date: | 30th June 2025 |
| Author: | Michael Collins |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 220 pages |
| Series: | Metamorphoses of the Political |
| Genres: |
Political structures: democracy Political parties and party platforms |
Today, India is widely celebrated as the world's largest democracy. However, not all groups experience India's political institutions the same way.
Elusive Democracy features in the following genres: Political structures: democracy, Political parties and party platforms
Hardback. Not Available.
Elusive Democracy was written by Michael Collins and published by Cambridge University Press
Elusive Democracy has 220 pages
Yes it is part of Metamorphoses of the Political series