Democracy and the Crisis of Inequality analyses how from the early 1990s politics in India began to undergo a fundamental transformation. Ethnic politics occupied centre stage, often prompting violent conflict and major political changes. Some of the essays focus on changes relating to representation, redistribution, social justice, secularism and the changing nature of the State in the wake of economic liberalization and globalization. Key issues that have been discussed are: the policies of group differentiated rights; caste-class politics; regional assertions; women's rights and minority politics and their impact on the pursuit of equality. Political change and the debates surrounding these categories and concerns, thus, provide a context for understanding the conflicts and tensions-between party politics and democracy, state and society, and democracy and development-that have shaped the transformation of the economy, polity and society in India in the last few decades.
About the Author
Zoya Hasan is Professor of Political Science at Jawaharlal Nehru University and former Dean of the School of Social Sciences, JNU. She was a Member of the National Commission for Minorities from 2006 to 2009.
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