South Asian Politics Midterm

Partition from above and from below

Butalia vs. accounts centered on leaders and high politics

What do different sources reveal? Whose experiences enter the story, and why does that change our view of post-colonial politics in South Asia?

Caste and political change

Jaffrelot; Chandra; Heath

How do caste identities get redefined, and how do parties turn them into votes? What

changed when lower castes stopped imitating the hierarchy and began challenging it?

Identity or incentives?

Wilkinson; Chandra

When do politicians play up religious or ethnic divisions, and when do they suppress them? Is identity a cause of political behavior, or a tool?

The rise of Hindu nationalism

Jaffrelot; Wilkinson; Chandra; Heath

Ideology, electoral incentives, or coalitions across castes: which carries the most

weight? Does the same logic travel to Pakistan or elsewhere?