Zoya Hasan

India's Living Constitution: Ideas, Practices, Controversies - Anthem South Asian Studies Zoya Hasan

Jacket Description/Back: India became independent in 1947 and, after nearly three years of debate in the Constituent Assembly, adopted a Constitution that came into effect on 26 January 1950. This Constitution has lasted until the present, with its basic structure unaltered, a remarkable achievement given that the generally accepted prerequisites for democratic stability did not exist, and do not exist even today. Half a century of constitutional democracy is something that political scientists and legal scholars need to analyze and explain. This volume examines the career of constitutional-political ideas (implicitly of Western origin) in the text of the Indian Constitution or implicit within it, as well as in actual political practice in the country over the past half-century. Biographical Note: Zoya Hasan is Professor of Political Science, Centre for Political Studies, and Director of the Women's Studies Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. E. Sridharan is Academic Director of the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India, New Delhi. R. Sudarshan is Senior Governance Advisor to the UNDP in Indonesia, and has worked for the UNDP since 1991, heading divisions in the India Office dealing with public policy and human development. Table of Contents: Preface; Notes on Contributors; INTRODUCTION: 1. Introduction: Civilization, Constitution, Democracy; I. OVERVIEW: 2. The (Im)possibility of Consitutional Justice: Seismographic Notes on Indian Consitutionalism; 3. The Indian Consitution and Democracy; 4. The Nation and the State in India: A Difficult Bond; II. ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES: 5. India's Secular Consitution; 6. How Has the Proliferation of Parties Affected the indian Federation?: A Comparative Approach; 7. 'Stateness' and Democracy in India's Constitution; 8. The Inner Conflict of Constitutionalism: Judicial Review and the 'Basic Strucutre'; III: RIGHTS AND JUSTICE: 9. Individual and Group Rights: A View From India, 10. Sex Equality, Liberty, and Privacy: A Comparative Approach to the Feminist Critique; IV. EQUITY: 11. The Pursuit of Social Justice; 12. The Long Half-Life of Reservations; V. INDIA'S POLITY: 13. The Expected and the Unintended in Working a Democratic Constitution; 14. The Origins of the Electoral System: Rules, Representation, and Power-Sharing in India's Democracy; 15. Decentralization and Local Government: The 'Second Wind' of Democracy in India, 16. The 'Politics of Presence' and Legislative Reservations; IndexMarc Notes: Reprint. Originally published: Delhi: Permanent Black, 2002; Includes bibliographical references and index. Publisher Marketing: India became independent in 1947 and, after nearly three years of debate in the Constituent Assembly, adopted a Constitution that came into effect on 26 January 1950. This Constitution has lasted until the present, with its basic structure unaltered, a remarkable achievement given that the generally accepted prerequisites for democratic stability did not exist, and do not exist even today. Half a century of constitutional democracy is something that political scientists and legal scholars need to analyze and explain. This volume examines the career of constitutional-political ideas (implicitly of Western origin) in the text of the Indian Constitution or implicit within it, as well as in actual political practice in the country over the past half-century.

Contributor Bio:  Hasan, Zoya Zoya Hasan is Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is the author and editor of eleven books and has published over two dozen articles. Her recent books include "Quest for Power: Oppositional Movements and Post-Congress Politics in Uttar Pradesh; Unequal Citizens: A Study of Muslim Women In India(co-authored)"; "Party Politics in India "(edited), "India s Living Constitution: Ideas, Practices and Controversies "(co-edited)"; Transforming India: Social Dynamics of Democracy "(coedited)"; and In a Minority: Essays on Muslim Women in India "(co-edited). She has also edited the third book in our Readings in Indian Government and Politics series, "Politics and the State in India "(Sage, 2000). Contributor Bio:  Sridharan, Eswaran Sridharan has been Academic Director of the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India, the India affiliate of the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, from its inception in 1997. He has held Visiting Fellowships at the London School of Economics, the Institute for Developing Economies, Tokyo, and the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania. Contributor Bio:  Sudarshan, Ratna M R. Sudarshan is Senior Economist and Assistant Resident Representative, United Nations Development Program, India. He heads the Public Policy Division at UNDP, New Delhi.