New Cultural Identitarian Political Movements in Developing Societies: The Bharatiya Janata Party by Sebastian Schwecke

Author:Sebastian Schwecke [Schwecke, Sebastian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, Social Science, Political Science, Regional Studies, General
ISBN: 9781136846571
Google: 9uXfCgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 16649922
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2010-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

Note

1 Calculations based on Statistical Reports of the Election Commission of India for the state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, 1996 and 2002, and the general elections to the Lok Sabha in Uttar Pradesh, 1998 and 1999. Figures for the 2007 state elections have not been calculated but similar results can be expected, since BSP and SP together won a vast majority (303 out of 403) of assembly seats with a vote percentage of 30.43 per cent and 25.43 per cent, respectively, without any significant alliances.

The surprising evolution of the UP party system and party politics since 1993 can be explained by the dominant role assumed by rent allocation in UP politics, and increasing rent scarcity. Access to the system of rent allocation forms one of the most decisive factors for the voting behaviour of the highly politically organised social groups which dominate the political process in UP. Increasing rent scarcity has resulted in an inability of the main political parties to aggregate large social coalitions. Instead, political parties increasingly focus on articulating the interests of highly organised social groups over large social coalitions.

As a side-effect this creates a safeguard against negative public perception, for example due to corruption scandals or the involvement of alleged criminals with political parties: The politically highly organised social sections which are crucial to electoral success do not have an incentive to switch political allegiances on the grounds of corrupt practices linked to rent allocation.

Competition among the politically highly organised social sections is intensifying according to the decreasing capacity of the state government to provide access to rents. This to some degree explains the increase in intensity in UP politics since the late 1980s. Improved access to the system of rent allocation forms one of the most important factors affecting the political strategies of both politicians and politically organised social sections. It can lead to defections and to flexible adaptations by social sections to changing contexts, including their exit from the social coalitions which determine a party’s support base in the state. The imperative of participating in governance, or at least the prospect of participating in governance in the near future, in order to have access to rent allocation which, in turn, provides the means for future political success reinforces this flexibility regarding political allegiances. Accordingly, the process of government formation in UP has regularly involved the engineering of defections from rival parties.

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