Commonwealth & Comparative Politics articles from November 2002

Commonwealth & Comparative Politics archives from November 2002

Decentring the Indian Nation.
November 1, 2002... Issues of culture and identity have continually been a feature of Indian politics since 1947. This has been demonstrated by chronic problems, such as the status of regional languages and religious and ethnic identities, to which the Indian...

Constitutional Centring: Nation Formation and Consociational Federalism in India and Pakistan.
November 1, 2002... States, as political and territorial entities, can be more or less centralised through adopting differing governing structures. Nations are more fluid. Since the French Revolution regimes have explicitly sought to legitimise their rule by...

Redrawing the body politic: federalism, regionalism and the creation of new states in India.
November 1, 2002... In 2000 the federal map of India was redrawn to create three new states, signifying a significant shift in the attitude of many of India's major political parties towards territorial reorganisation. This paper suggests that a new era in the...

The continuing struggle for India's Jharkhand: democracy, decentralization and the politics of names and numbers.
November 1, 2002... The formation of the new states of Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh is testimony to the strength of India's democracy. Power has been decentred and regionalist movements have been accommodated. It is not clear, however, that these formal...

Liberal, secular democracy and explanations of Hindu nationalism.
November 1, 2002... A review of some of the key texts on the rise of Hindu nationalism in India reveals that more attention could be paid to the discursive context in which such politics has to operate. A liberal democratic discourse is a critical part of this...

Whatever happened to cultural nationalism in Tamil Nadu? A reading of current events and the recent literature on Tamil Politics.
November 1, 2002... The 2001 Tamil Nadu assembly elections were remarkable for the emergence of a number of new political parties and the combination of political parties constituting the two rival electoral alliances. This article analyses the social and...

A response to John Harriss.
November 1, 2002... In the context of the fragmentation of party politics and the apparent ideological crisis within the DMK there is a danger that developments favourable to progressive political movements in Tamil Nadu may be overlooked. It is also possible that...

Identity politics and social pluralism: political sociology and political change in Tamil Nadu.
November 1, 2002... Recent political changes in Tamil Nadu (south India) are best understood with reference to the subcultures associated with the state's major parties, the DMK and the AIADMK. These parties promoted political participation among the intermediate...

Democracy in Malaysia: Discourses and Practices.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... edited by Francis Loh Kok Wah and Khoo Boo Teik (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2002, pp.xiii + 274, 45 [pounds sterling] hb; 15.99 [pounds sterling] pb). Although entitled 'Democracy in Malaysia', this collection of essays by Malaysian...

Democratic Governance in India: Challenges of Poverty, Development and Identity.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... edited by Nirja Gopal Jayal and Sudha Pai (New Delhi: Sage, 2000, pp.264, $21 hb). India's status as a shining jewel of democracy in the poor man's world, and the sheer size of its electorate which alone entitles it to the designation of...

The Success of India's Democracy.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... edited by Atul Kohli (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp.xiv + 298, 40 [pounds sterling] hb). This is an important collection of essays, on an ever-disputatious subject, by some of the most distinguished scholars in the field....

Ghana's Adjustment Experience: the Paradox of Reform.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... by Eboe Hutchful (Geneva/Oxford/Accra/Portsmouth, NH: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development/James Currey/Woeli Publishing Services/Heinemann, 2002, pp.xv + 268, 16.95 [pounds sterling] pb). Twenty years ago, the nature...

The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: a People's History.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... by Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja (London: Zed Books, 2002, pp.xii + 304, 45 [pounds sterling] hb; 14.95 [pounds sterling] pb). This is an ambitious book in its attempt to condense into 300 pages the violent and tragic political history of the...

Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... by Rotimi T. Suberu (Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2001, pp.xxi + 247, 10.75 [pounds sterling] pb). Since the return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria's politics and economics as well as the federal system at the heart...

Women, Politics, and Change.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... edited by Karen Ross (Oxford: Oxford University Press in association with the Hansard Society Series in Politics and Government, 2002, pp.212, price 16.99 [pounds sterling] pb). Ross has put together a useful collection of empirical and...

Human Rights and Poverty Eradication.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... A Report by the International Advisory Commission of CHRI (New Delhi: Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2001, pp.115, 15 [pounds sterling] pb). The link between lack of human rights enjoyment and the experience of poverty has been made...

Handbook on Democratic Assessment.(Book Review)
November 1, 2002... by David Beetham, Sarah Bracking, Iain Kearton and Stuart Weir (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2002, pp.144, 47 [pounds sterling]hb). For those who want to analyse the fluctuations in democratic quality across the spectra of its many...