Slideshow - November 2017

This week we will be looking at the early development of Indian democracy after decolonization in 1947. The lecture will consider the consequences of the violent and conflictual way independent India emerged as part of a partitioned subcontinent, and the consequences this had. It will also consider the changing patterns of Indian democracy up till the Emergency of 1975-77.

Seminar Questions

• How should we view Indian society and politics during the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-64)?
• To what extent did colonialism shape the directions of India and Pakistan after independence?

• How significant was Indira Ghandi's leadership (1966-77, 1980-84) in post-colonial India?

Core Readings

Nivedita Menon and Aditya Nigam, Power and Contestation: India Since 1989 (London, 2007), pp.x-xiv ('Timeline', 'India at a Glance', and Map)

Ramachandra Guha, India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy (London, 2007), 'Prologue'.

Ayesha Jalal, Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia (Cambridge 1995), pp.1-48, and pp.66-77.

Further Readings

(To be added shortly)