Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2020

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moaa078

Abstract

For some years, the endurance of constitutional democracy in India has been a puzzle for political scientists and public law scholars. The creation of self-government on Indian soil challenged Western political theory and history, and its survival in atypical and unusual circumstances has mystified students of comparative politics. If the conventional wisdom is believed, self-rule in a country with major levels of poverty, illiteracy, and diversity should neither have been instituted nor sustained. India has managed to hold elections with remarkable regularity, and it boasts of a constitutional culture where conflict has, for the most part, been articulated through legal means. The troubling reality of contemporary Indian political life — where the principles of constitutional democracy appear to be under serious threat — does not take away from the achievement of modern India or from the puzzle that the nation’s history invites. Regardless of whether India will remain a constitutional democracy, it is somewhat astonishing that it was ever one to begin with.

Disciplines

Constitutional Law | Law

Share

COinS