Read the full essay here.
About the Author
Atul Kohli is professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of The State and Poverty in India: The Politics of Reform (1987), and Democracy and Discontent: India’s Growing Crisis of Governability (1990). The present article draws on both these works and his essay, “From Majority to Minority Rule: Making Sense of the ‘New’ Indian Politics,” in Marshall Bouton and Philip Oldenburg, eds., India Briefing, 1990.