Book Review: Lloyd I Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, Explaining Indian Democracy: A Fifty Year Perspective 1956–2006. Vol. I: The Realm of Ideas: Inquiry and Theory
| Author | Jyotsna Tomer |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929916666760 |
| Published date | 01 February 2017 |
| Date | 01 February 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsAsia and the Pacific |
164 Political Studies Review 15 (1)
Asia and the sea, respectively (p. 380). There is
also discussion of the ‘Afghanistan Compact’
crafted by the international community in 2006.
The compact not only delineated the contours
of external commitment on Afghanistan but
also emphasised developing indigenous efforts
towards state and institution building over a
five-year time frame (p. 226).
A collection of brilliant essays on
Afghanistan, this book is useful as a handbook
for scholars and practitioners – especially the
first section, which condenses the crucial inter-
regnum in Afghanistan about which the level
of awareness is comparatively low. Despite
being intellectually rather non-revealing,
Afghanistan from the Cold War through the
War on Terror is nonetheless a synergised and
balanced account. It was published at an oppor-
tune moment before the scheduled pullout of
international forces was due to begin in 2014.
However, if it had extended the cut-off point
for selected articles until 2012–2013 instead of
limiting them to pre-2009, this would have fur-
ther enhanced the book’s relevance.
Priyanka Singh
(Institute for Defence Studies
and Analyses, New Delhi)6
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929916672954
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Explaining Indian Democracy: A Fifty Year
Perspective 1956–2006. Vol. I: The Realm of
Ideas: Inquiry and Theory by Lloyd I Rudolph
and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph. New Delhi,
India: Oxford University Press, 2014. 324pp.,
£18.99 (p/b), ISBN 9780199453382
India has been a democratic country for over
six decades and has become the largest democ-
racy in the world. This volume focuses on the
development of Indian democracy, spanning
over five decades from 1956 to 2006, and it is
a marvellous piece of work on the subject. The
authors have divided the volume into two parts.
Part I contains seven chapters, and Part II
includes eight chapters. The first part explores
how the historical context and different levels
of knowledge and modes of inquiry have
shaped Indian politics. The second part focuses
on the prevailing political atmosphere in India
as well as the impact of social change and
structure on the Indian political culture.
The prevailing literature in political science
suggests that modernity, social change and the
democratic process can be explained through a
structural–functional approach (the Shils and
Parson Model). This volume evolves an alter-
native view that political institutions and pro-
cesses residing in India can be grasped by
analysing the complex and variegated tradi-
tional society and culture in India. The book
challenges the Newtonian epistemological
stance, namely, that knowledge is objective and
universal. In fact, the author emphasises that
social phenomena should be approached on the
basis of inductive generalisation rather than
deductive reasoning.
India’s democracy has evolved through the
adaptation of tradition rather than modernisa-
tion. The authors show that while legal plural-
ism is practised in India, the phenomenon of
uniform citizenship is lacking. Civil society
also includes non-state actors as well, which
may lead to some conflict within society but
also to a more careful decision-making process.
Furthermore, they argue that the media have
played an active and assertive role in the forma-
tion of cultural politics in India. This has led to
the formation of Hindu national identity.
Explaining Indian Democracy employs a
survey method, case study method and meth-
odological pluralism. The major weakness of
the book is that the generalisations have been
derived from a limited number of case studies
of specific regions in India. Also, the authors
have focused on Indian democracy only for a
particular time period from 1956 to 2006. The
authors delve into the reasons for the resilience
of Indian democracy, but this analysis stops in
2006.
Overall, however, the book is erudite and
well-suited for students, scholars, academics
and political leaders as well as any who wish to
comprehend the functioning of Indian
democracy.
Jyotsna Tomer
(OP Jindal Modern School)
© The Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1478929916666760
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