Note from the Editors

Abstract

, we placed before the readers our first issue of SIP. That issue has received a warm welcome from colleagues based in various institutions in India and abroad. We are planning to increase the periodicity of the journal and bring out three issues in 2015. We look forward to receiving a steady stream of submissions to support this decision. On 18 July 2013, the first issue was formally launched at a function at the India International Centre, Delhi at the hands of Professor Mrinal Miri, renowned philosopher, MP (Rajya Sabha) and Chairperson of the Board of Governors, CSDS. The first copy of the journal was given to Professor Rajni Kothari in appreciation of his contribution to the study of Indian politics. A panel discussion was held on this occasion on the topic 'Doing Political Science in India'. Nivedita Menon, Sudipta Kaviraj and Yogendra Yadav participated in the discussion. Professor Rajeev Bhargava chaired the panel discussion. SIP believes that doing political science in India and studying 'Indian politics' are closely interlinked. Also, SIP seeks to connect itself to the various processes that aim at rejuvenating the discipline of political science in Indian academia. Just as the sections on 'Teaching-Learning Political Science' and 'Notes on Methods' are instances of that effort, the panel discussion on the occasion of the launch too was an effort to start off a discussion on this issue. Nivedita Menon argued for a more critical and interdisciplinary approach to studying politics and underscored that analysis of power and power relations was and should be the central concern of the study of politics. Sudipta Kaviraj pointed out that history of ideas and their evolution from pre-colonial period must be an essential component of political science as it could strengthen our understanding of the contemporary. Yogendra Yadav emphasized that a more nuanced understanding of political science would be possible through a critical study of Indian politics. Rajeev Bhargava exhorted the journal to balance the tasks of responding to the immediate and making sense of the long-term trends. These views were in consonance with the idea of 'Indian politics' propounded by us in the Introduction to the first issue of SIP. As more and more college-going undergraduate students turn to the study of political science and as the discipline attracts more and more researchers, there is an urgent need to revisit our understanding of the discipline, reframe the course structure for both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and redefine research agenda of political science in India. Through its pages, SIP hopes to contribute to this challenging process and invites colleagues to support this endeavour by way of their research writings and response to the papers published in SIP. This second issue, like the first one, through the articles being published here, addresses ideas (on the links between history and politics), institutions (delimitation of electoral constituencies, 'decline' of parliament and party system) and processes (Ka...

Why Do We Need Election Studies in Political Science Classrooms?

“…And yet, election studies are not seen as an ‘honourable’ field of research within the mainstream discipline of Political Science in India. Over the years, Indian citizens have invested a lot in the exercise of elections, making it a ‘meaningful democratic activity’ (Palshikar, 2013) that deserves serious scholarly attention and decoding. However, so far, these linkages between elections and democracy have not been adequately addressed in the mainstream research agenda of Indian political science; as a result, the discussion on linkages between elections and democracy was also not integrated into the Political Science syllabi.…”

“…However, so far, these linkages between elections and democracy have not been adequately addressed in the mainstream research agenda of Indian political science; as a result, the discussion on linkages between elections and democracy was also not integrated into the Political Science syllabi. Palshikar (2013) laments how despite the centrality of elections in Indian democratic politics, none of the major Political Science departments in the country invested in institutionalizing election studies research. The same is the case with Political Science syllabi.…”

“…Two important essays (not so coincidentally, of colleagues from within the Lokniti group) developed a detailed internal critique of India’s election studies (Palshikar, 2013; Yadav, 2008) with a plea to situate election studies within democracy studies. Both essays also underlined the need to adopt methodological pluralism in order to expand the scope of election studies.…”

“…What distinguishes academic research on elections though are the possible inspections of key subtexts of democratic politics that are out in the open at the time of elections. These possibilities are discussed in detail by Palshikar (2013) in his overview of election studies in India as a part of the ‘ICSSR Research Surveys and Explorations’. However, in order to explore these possibilities, mainstream political science in India needs to refresh its understanding of elections as an important moment to understand and define democracy.…”