Unit name | Populism and Politics in India |
---|---|
Unit code | POLI30035 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Wyatt |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit investigates populist mobilization as a recurrent feature of Indian politics. The Congress Party used nationalist ideas and ideology to justify a strong centre in a weak federal system, which created space for strong national leaders. Regional political movements opposed Congress with alternative populist-nationalist narratives. Political and economic crises from the late 1980s enabled profound changes in India. Religious nationalists attacked the secular ideology of Congress. Congress countered the turn towards identity politics by promoting economic reform. When this failed as a political strategy, Congress implemented populist welfare measures. Opposition movements and parties responded by developing populist discourses centred on allegations of elite corruption. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the populist strategies and ideologies employed by political forces in India. The wider literature on populism will be introduced and insights from Indian cases will be used to assess the usefulness of that literature.
The unit aims are:
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
1 hour lecture and 2 hour seminar per week
Teaching methods will include lectures, Q + A, group discussions, critical readings of written and visual texts, and formative oral presentations.
Summative essay 1 – 1500 words (25% weighting - assesses learning outcomes 1, 2 and 5)
Summative essay 2 – 2500 words (75% weighting - assesses all learning outcomes)
K. Adeney & A. Wyatt (2010), Contemporary India, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
C. Jaffrelot & L. Tillin (2017), ‘Populism in India’, in C. Rovira Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P. Ochoa Espejo & P. Ostiguy (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Populism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
C. Rovira Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P. Ochoa Espejo & P. Ostiguy (eds) (2017), The Oxford Handbook of Populism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
B. Stanley (2008), ‘The Thin Ideology of Populism’, Journal of Political Ideologies, 13(1), 95-110.
N. Subramanian (2007), ‘Populism in India’, SAIS Review, 27/1, pp. 81-91.
A. Wyatt (2013), ‘Populism and Politics in Contemporary Tamil Nadu’, Contemporary South Asia, 21/4, pp.365-381.