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620 K.K. Kailash, Varieties of Comparative State Politics Research in India
620 K.K. Kailash, Varieties of Comparative State Politics Research in India
620 K.K. Kailash, Varieties of Comparative State Politics Research in India
The first is, what for classificatory purposes can be called traditional
studies (Narain 1967; Weiner 1968; Wood 1984; Frankel and Rao
1989). Characteristically descriptive, these are not strictly in the
comparative (method) mould. The focus is primarily on individual
states and the earliest studies in fact provide in-depth coverage of the
history and politics of particular states. However, in these studies when
comparison is attempted, it is usually by way of an introductory
framework and/or a concluding summing up chapter. The single-state
chapters in the study may attempt to address issues in the introduction
but rarely talk to each other. More contemporary studies (Hansen and
Jaffrelot 1998; Jaffrelot and Kumar 2009; Shastri, Suri and Yadav
2009), though different, follow a similar pattern. While findings from
individual state chapters may allow for cross-state comparison, the
studies themselves were not designed to be analytically comparative.
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Barring a few, most of the research where the political is the dependent
variable, draws on survey research. Yogendra Yadav’s (1999, 2000)
much cited ‘democratic upsurge’ thesis was the result of a comparative
exercise in both time and space of participation levels in states. State
comparisons have also enabled a mapping of the social profile of the
support base for the two main parties, the Congress and the BJP in the
post-Congress polity. Heath and Yadav’s (1999) study of Congress
voters showed that the party’s support base varied from state to state
depending on who its competitor was. Heath (1999) presented a ‘step-
down’ hypothesis to explain variation in the support base of the BJP.
While the upper caste remained its core support base in primary support
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Over the years, besides Kohli (1989), other scholars who have travelled
on the same path include Varshney (2003), Sinha (2005), Mitra (2006),
Desai (2007) and Chandra (2007). The method-conscious tradition has
been particularly useful in constructing concepts that are useful for
comparative analysis in the context of India. Some of these include,
regime types (Kohli 1987), inter- and intra-communal engagement
(Varshney 2003), polycentric hierarchy (Sinha 2005), rational protest
(Mitra 1991), and governability/governance (Kohli 1989; Mitra 2006).
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Pai (1989, 102) in her review had lamented that earlier empirical
studies on elections had not been followed up in the 1980s. The
formation of Lokniti reversed this trend and the study of state politics
through elections has now become one of the most happening areas of
inquiry within Indian political science. An examination of themes in
comparative state politics reveals that electoral politics has by and large
received greater attention (Nigam and Yadav 1999; Roy and Wallace
1999, 2007; Wallace and Roy 2003; Shastri, Suri and Yadav, 2009;
Lefebvre and Robin 2009). Other areas that have been studied include
political parties and party systems (Yadav and Palshikar 2003; Kumar
2004; Heath 2005); leadership (Banerjee 2004), governance (Kohli
1989; Corbridge, Williams, Srivastava and Véron 2005; Mitra 2006),
ethnic nationalism (Kohli 1997), caste (Varshney 2000; Jaffrelot 2000;
Chandra 2007; Pai 2004; Palshikar 2006), local government (Heller
2001; Ghosh and Kumar 2003; Kumar 2006), communal riots and
violence (Varshney 2003, Wilkinson 2004), and economic policies and
liberalization (Jenkins 1999; Sinha 2005; Manor 2004b, 2006).
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Footnote:
1. For more details regarding the holdings of the CSDS-Lokniti data archive see
<http://www.lokniti.org/dataunit_data_archive.htm>
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