State Politics New Dimensions

Following India’s general election in May 2009, this book undertakes a critical evaluation of the performance of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It presents a thorough analysis of the UPA coalition government, and by providing an understanding of the new innovations in the UPA’s policies, the book goes on to evaluate the effectiveness of these policies against their aims and objectives. This book suggests that there is an analytical framework for assessing the political consequences of the policies and the UPA’s success, both at the national and state levels, with particular reference to new policies in governance, secularism and security. These three areas constitute important fault lines between the main national political parties in India, and provide an interesting point of departure to explore the new emerging trends, as well as the strong underlying continuities between the UPA administration and its predecessors. The book offers new insights into the structure of Indian politics, and is a useful contribution to studies in South Asian Politics, Governance and Political Parties.

A Significant Feature Of The 1990S Has Been The Emergence Of The Indian States As Important Players On The Polititcal Scene. At Independence Although The Constitution Established A Federal Structure, The Absence Of Strong Regional Forces In The Constitue

Since its publication in 1993, Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor-States edited by Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras has established itself internationally as the genuinely comprehensive, systematic and rigorous analysis of the nation- and state-building processes of the fifteen states that grew out of the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. New States, New Politics: Building the Post-Soviet Nations was first published in 1997 and succeeds and replaces the editors' earlier book with a fresh collection of specially commissioned studies from the world's foremost specialists. Far from eradicating tensions among the former Soviet peoples, the disintegration of empire saw national minorities rediscovering long-suppressed identities. The contributors to New States, New Politics bring together historical and ethnic backgrounds with penetrating political analysis to offer an intriguing record of the different roads to self-assertion and independence being pursued by these young nations.

The volume analyses the complex historical and political context for the processes of state formation in independent India. It provides both a conceptual and empirical framework for an understanding of Indian democracy through the perspective of reorganisation of states. Following the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) in 1956, the territorial boundaries of the states were redrawn. However, within a decade, the geo-linguistic and cultural-ideological criteria could not be considered satisfactory for the future division of states. With the formation of three new states (Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand) and the demand for Telangana statehood not accepted as yet, new dimensions and perspectives about state formation as a critical political practice have surfaced yet again in contemporary India. The book addresses a number of significant themes related to states reorganisation and its effects — questions of underdevelopment, size, political participation, governance, cultural identities — and also analyses the demand for smaller states. It focuses on different states, their historical and contemporary trajectory leading to the demand for territorial remapping and thus recognising specific political and cultural resources, and identities in the regions and sub-regions of states in India. The book will be useful for those studying politics, history, sociology, comparative politics and South Asian Studies.

In his first book since leaving Washington to return to the University of Minnesota, he describes the emergence of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson as practicing economists, evaluates their economic policies, and sketches the patterns that are being established for the future. He tells how the grip of economic myths and false fears has been loosened in the government, with the result that economic policy is focused on sustaining prosperity without inflation, on speeding economic growth, and on realizing the fruits of true fiscal abundance.

Most New Yorkers have very little knowledge of how influence is wielded in Albany. This acclaimed book offers a chance to look behind those closed doors. The authors - an Albany-based political scientist and a former State Assembly member, now joined by an expert on political blogging and networking - infuse their discussion of institutions and processes with the drama and significance of real power politics. Completely revised and updated with extensive new material, the book covers recent political developments and electoral contests as well as all the basics: constitutional issues; historical, economic, social, and demographic factors; the functioning of executive, legislative, and judicial institutions; urban, local, and special district governments; parties, interest groups, and bureaucracies; and, finance, budgets, health, education, and welfare programs. Throughout, the authors are attentive to the many paradoxes and dualities that distinguish political, social, and economic life in the Empire State.