In the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination, the Congress party swept the polls in 1984. It reached its zenith with Rajiv Gandhi at the helm. However, due to shifts in Indian polity, economy, and society, this period marked the end of the Congress epoch. It was only a couple of decades later that the Congress was able to emerge as a dominant party again. How did the new Indian political landscape shape the development and the comeback of the Congress in the 2004 parliamentary elections in a coalition? What was the role of contemporary Congress politics, its policy, its organization, and...

Policymaking in India evokes an image of rational decision-making and technical optimality. However, the arena of policymaking is characterized by conflict and contestation resolved through processes of negotiations and compromises. A significant amount of research in India focuses on policy goals and consequences, and less on policy processes. Breaking away from that approach, Public Policy and Politics in India directly addresses policy processes and discusses the role of institutions in policymaking in India. The wide-ranging essays cover issues such as environment, education, Parliament,...

This book chronicles how the concept of organizing people to serve economic ends emerged in early modern and colonial India. It examines rules of cooperation, why people decided to join forces, how disputes were settled, and how cooperative communities became increasingly unstable in more modern times. It focuses on five dimensions: actor, agent, time, purpose, and region.