Much comparative research and theory-building has been undertaken on politics in Western democracies. There has been theorizing on democratization and the sustainability of democracies on Asian cases. But the relationship between coalition politics and the consolidation of democracy in the context of developing and multi-ethnic Asian countries characterized by evolving parties and alliances remains largely under-researched. This volume compares the patterns of coalition politics and of institutionalization of democracy in four Asian countries-India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Japan-that have experienced a significant period of coalition politics. The essays, by leading country scholars, examine whether coalition politics and its inevitable sharing of power is conducive to the consolidation of, and/or improvement in, the quality of democracy. Their findings suggest that coalition politics conduces to power-sharing and hence to the consolidation of democracy only under certain conditions, depending on whether inclusive parties and coalitions get institutionalized, and whether the coalitions are formed within or across ethnic and other cleavages.

Coalition Politics and Democratic Consolidation in Asia

Sridharan, E.

Legal Theory & Systems

Oxford University Press

Drawing upon international relations theory, this volume conceptualizes possible solutions to the various conflicts in South Asia. It analyses the bilateral conflicts between India and Pakistan and other multilateral problems specific to this region. Bringing together scholarship from several South Asian countries, it offers a well-rounded formulation of conflict resolution and cooperation-building. The volume employs a strong theoretical rubric, empirical research, and exhaustive fieldwork. Its centralizing approach to sustain the diversity of perspectives and arguments makes it an indispensable contribution to strategic studies.

International Relations Theory and South Asia: Volume 1: Security, Political Economy, Domestic Politics, Identities, and Images

Business & Money

Economics

Bringing together scholarship from several South Asian countries, this volume understands conflict resolution and cooperation building in the region. The essays cover three inter-related issues-security; political economy-domestic politics; and the construction of identities and normative frameworks. They employ broader social-science theorizing, particularly in relation to political economy, to go beyond conceptualizations based on international relations theory. The volume takes a fresh look at the inter-relationships between issues and their analyses and eschews stand-alone topics such as Kashmir, nuclear policies, or regional cooperation. Combining theory with fieldwork, it provides diverse perspectives and arguments for a more nuanced picture of international relations in South Asia.

International Relations Theory and South Asia: Volume 2: Security, Political Economy, Domestic Politics, Identities, and Images

By mapping India's spatial imaginations underlying Indian foreign policy toward South Asia, Shibashis Chatterjee argues that India's understanding of its neighbourhood is informed by a politics of realism as South Asia remains a "space" defined in terms of power and sovereign territoriality incontrast to alternative imaginations based on the market or community. This understanding is one of India's ruling elites consisting of politicians, cutting across party lines, key bureaucrats, army chiefs, and influential policy intellectuals. While alternative imagination/s of South Asia is indeedideationally possible, the politics necessary to make this happen is virtually nonexistent. While India's relations with neighbours have varied with regimes over time, these have moved between fixed points of references, constituted by its imagination of South Asia as a space of power andterritorial control. The book tells a story of India's spatial imaginations of its neighbourhood and reveals how the differentiated cartography of territorial nationalism still looms large on our shared ontology of social space.

India's Spatial Imaginations of South Asia: Power, Commerce, and Community (Oxford International Relations in South Asia)

Politics & Social Sciences

Ganguly, Šumit

Chatterjee, Shibashis

Politics & Government

India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed repeated ceasefire violations over the past decade. Indeed, with the new low in the relations between India and Pakistan, ceasefire violations have gone up exponentially. These have the potential to not only begin a crisis but also escalate an ongoing crisis. To make things worse, in the event of major violations, political leadership on either side often engage in high-pitched rhetoric some of which even have nuclear undertones. Using fresh empirical data and oral history evidence, this book explains the causes of ceasefire violations on the Jammu and Kashmir border, and establishes a relationship between ceasefire violations and crisis escalation between India and Pakistan. In doing so, the book further nuances the existing arguments about the escalatory dynamics between the two South Asian nuclear rivals. Furthermore, the book explains ceasefire violations using the concept of 'autonomous military factors'.

Line on Fire: Ceasefire Violations and India-Pakistan Escalation Dynamics (Oxford International Relations in South Asia)

Jacob, Happymon