Challenges to India's Centralized Parliamentary Federalism

Mahendra P. Singh and Douglas V. Verney

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2003, vol. 33, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: Indian federalism has become less centralized as a result of popular pressures, the breakdown of Congress dominance, and the fragmentation of political parties. Economic challenges to cooperative federalism emerge from market reforms, the search for investments, and the World Bank structural adjustment plans adopted in selected states. Devolution of economic decision-making to the states aggravates fiscal crises by facilitating populist political strategies and accentuating uneven development. Political challenges arise from issues such as central vs. state control of police and security forces; movements for the creation of new states; and the implementation of constitutional provisions for village-level governance. Change in India's federalism has come about less through the adaptation of formal institutions than through the proliferation of state-based political parties, aggregating varied interests based on region, language, caste, class, or views on secularism. After the elections of 1999, more than 20 parties managed to provide a stable national coalition government, transforming the political process. A national multiparty coalition again formed the government following the elections of 2004. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/ (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:publus:v:33:y:2003:i:4:p:1-20

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Publius: The Journal of Federalism is currently edited by Paul Nolette and Philip Rocco

More articles in Publius: The Journal of Federalism from CSF Associates Inc. Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().