The Historical Legacy of Party System Stability in Kerala

Abstract

Kerala has one of the most stable party systems in India, and represents a clear exception to the Indian norm of volatility, instability and electoral change. In this article, we explore the geographical structure of this stability, and examine the extent to which current political divisions are a reflection of the divisions that existed at the inception of mass democracy in Kerala more than 50 years ago. First, we examine the extent to which historical legacies of party formation shape contemporary patterns of voting behaviour. Second, we examine the extent to which these historical legacies were established along social lines to do with caste, religion and class. Finally, we discuss the implications of these results.

The Persistence of Political Power: A Communist ‘Party Village’ in Kerala and the Paradox of Egalitarian Hierarchies

“…First, the empirical data has repeatedly observed the region of Kannur in north Kerala to show a particular pattern of voting behaviour, but our work is the first to provide an understanding of it in a local sense. So, for instance, Sunilraj and Heath (2017) note that Kerala has a party stability, programmatic and well-institutionalised party system. They study the survey data from 2011 to find close ties between political parties and caste-community cleavage, concluding with these words, 'These findings also indicate that there is a clear geographic structure to contemporary patterns of voting behaviour that is shaped by the historical legacy of the communist Party…In those places where the communists first established a stronghold, people still continue to support the party, irrespective of caste and class and caste identities…So what then accounts for the enduring legacy of 1957?…”