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WiSe 23/24: Introduction: Indian Politics Today

Kirsten Jörgensen-Ullmann

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Indian politics today is a fascinating topic, multifaceted, contradictory and diverse and it is a highly relevant subject not least because of India’s growing importance as a global economic, political, and climate power. We will exame recent developments in India’s domestic and international politics from an empirical-analytical perspective, remaining mindful of Eurocentric viewpoints. India’s democracy, commonly referred to as the world’s largest democracy, and respected for this achievement against the backdrop of a populous, ethnically diverse, poor, and post-colonial country, is crumbling today. The Democracy Report 2021 (University of Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute) argued that India has become an ‘electoral autocracy’ in 2019. Identities - religious, ethnic, and linguistic diversity - have always mattered in shaping India’s democracy, causing conflict, providing balance and drawing the boundaries of India’s subnational states. In recent years, Hindu nationalist populism has gained strength, challenging the secularist principle incorporated in India’s constitution. Since independence in 1947 and even more significantly after India’s economic liberalization in 1990, different governing parties and coalitions have each pursued rapid industrialization and economic development. India has one of the fastest growing economies, including high growth rates and progress in poverty eradication. It moves up and down in the Human Development Index but has so far not been able to leapfrog to a significantly better ranking. Social and gender inequality prevail and demand for urban and rural infrastructure is consistently high. Rapid growth and urbanisation, continuously rising energy demand and resource consumption present challenges to environmental and climate policy. High levels of environmental pollution prevail. India slipped to the last rank in the 2022 Environmental Performance Index. This class introduces to Indian politics. We will discuss how scholars conceptualize and understand India’s political development and consider a variety of policy fields, including climate and energy policy, urbanisation, migration, environmental policy and foreign policy. close