Understanding India's New Political Economy ─ A Great Transformation?

A number of large-scale transformations have shaped the economy, polity and society of India over the past quarter century. This book provides a detailed account of three that are of particular importance: the advent of liberal economic reform, the ascendance of Hindu cultural nationalism, and the empowerment of historically subordinate classes through popular democratic mobilizations.

Filling a gap in existing literature, the book goes beyond looking at the transformations in isolation, managing to:

• Explain the empirical linkages between these three phenomena
• Provide an account that integrates the insights of separate disciplinary perspectives
• Explain their distinct but possibly related causes and the likely consequences of these central transformations taken together

By seeking to explain the causal relationships between these central transformations through a coordinated conversation across different disciplines, the dynamics of India’s new political economy are captured. Chapters focus on the political, economic and social aspects of India in their current and historical context. The contributors use new empirical research to discuss how India’s multidimensional story of economic growth, social welfare and democratic deepening is likely to develop. This is an essential text for students and researchers of India's political economy and the growth economies of Asia.

Sanjay Ruparelia is an Assistant Professor of Politics at the New School for Social Research in the US. His current research examines the politics of the broader Indian left in contemporary Indian democracy in the wake of economic liberalization and Hindu nationalism.

Sanjay Reddy is an Associate Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research in the US. His areas of work include development economics, international economics and economics and philosophy.

John Harriss is Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University, Canada. His current research concerns India's social policy in the context of liberalization.

Stuart Corbridge is Professor of Development Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. His previous publications include Reinventing India: Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and Popular Democracy (2000, with John Harriss).

1. Introduction: India’s Transforming Political Economy Stuart Corbridge, John Harriss, Sanjay Ruparelia and Sanjay Reddy 2. Democracy and the Economic Transformation in India Partha Chatterjee 3. Economic Liberalization, Urban Politics and the Poor Nandini Gooptu 4. The Politics of India’s Special Economic Zones Rob Jenkins 5. The Contested Geographies of Federalism in Post-Reform India Stuart Corbridge 6. Patterns of Wealth Disparities in India: 1991-2002 Arjun Jayadev, Sripad Motiram, and Vamsi Vakulabharanam 7. Political Economy of Agrarian Distress in India since the 1990s Vamsi Vakulabharanam and Sripad Motiram 8. How Far Have India’s Economic Reforms Been ‘Guided by Compassion and Justice’? Social Policy in the Neo-Liberal era John Harriss 9. The Transformation of Citizenship in India in the 1990s and Beyond Niraja Gopal Jayal 10. Making Citizens From Below and Above: The Prospects and Challenges of Decentralization in India Patrick Heller 11. Hindutva’s Ebbing Tide? Radhika Desai 12. Expanding Indian Democracy: The Paradox of the Third Force Sanjay Ruparelia 13. The Congress Party and the ‘Great Transformation’ James Manor 14. Indian Foreign Policy Since the End of the Cold War: Domestic Determinants Achin Vanaik