Spring 2006

GOV 365L • Party Politics and Elections in India- W

Course Description

Upper- division standing required. Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Elections are central to the success of India's democracy and political parties are at the core of the elecoral process. India's parties have changed character and comparative strength in its post-independence history. They can be analyzed not just in terms of the national party system but also as a set of very different state-level systems. This course will use the framework of electoral change to examine the grand shift of India's political party system from a national one with state ramifications, to a national one dependent on state systems. Electoral change also rests on a profound transformation of India's society and economy, one that centers on the emergence into arenas of power of the previously marginalized and powerless women and people of the lower castes.

Grading Policy

Non-essay mid-term and final examinations 30% 3 five-page papers 30% Research paper 30% Class attendance and participation 10%

Texts

Electronic reserve

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