Studying Elections in India: Scientific and Political Debates

Lama-Rewal, Stéphanie Tawa

doi:10.4000/samaj.2784

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In recent years, however, scholarship has sought instead to explore local electoral practices within their social contexts. Following Schaffer's work on Senegal (1997), and Paley's influential review of the anthropological literature on democracy (2002), ethnographic studies of electoral processes have flourished over the last ten years and fostered the dialogue between political science and anthropology (Tawa Lama-Rewal, 2009 ). Auyero and Joseph (2007) promote ethnography as the best tool to investigate politics, and to reveal an often hidden or 'gray zone' of politics (Auyero, 2007, pp.…”

Section: Ethnographies Of Electoral Processes and The Neglect Of Fraudmentioning

confidence: 99%

Special issue: electoral fraud and manipulation in India and Pakistan

Martín

Picherit

2019

Commonwealth & Comparative Politics

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Despite official reports and widespread popular accounts of electoral fraud, manipulation, and violence in India and Pakistan, this topic has not been systematically addressed by the scholarly literature. This special issue explores how electoral malpractices are performed across a variety of settings (villages, small towns and cities) in criminalised political contexts. Our in-depth ethnographic studies of the electoral seasons show how fraud and manipulation of electoral processes are a diffuse and pervasive assemblage of practices, discourses and representations which shape and are shaped by local modes of governance and by the idea of free and fair elections.

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Section: Ethnographies Of Electoral Processes and The Neglect Of Fraudmentioning

confidence: 99%

Special issue: electoral fraud and manipulation in India and Pakistan

Martín

Picherit

2019

Commonwealth & Comparative Politics

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“…In addition to opinion sharing, popular participation in polity through voting is considered a crucial aspect of democracy in social choice theory ( Riker, 1982 ). Due to the rule of “everyone counts” in democracy, voting offers individuals equal rights to make collective decisions ( Lama-Rewal, 2009 ; Ahuja and Chibber, 2012 ; Carswell and De Neve, 2014 ) and to prevent abuse of power ( Riker, 1982 ). Individuals who actively participate in democratic activities (e.g., petition, boycotts, and demonstration) are likely to appreciate and endorse the view that groups should have equal rights, even outgroups ( Pateman, 1976 ; Peffley and Rohrschneider, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratic Systems Increase Outgroup Tolerance Through Opinion Sharing and Voting: An International Perspective

Lee

2018

Front. Psychol.

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Democracy may contribute to friendly attitudes and positive attitudes toward outgroups (i.e., outgroup tolerance) because members of democratic societies learn to exercise their rights (i.e., cast a vote) and, in the process, listen to different opinions. Study 1 was a survey study with representative samples from 33 countries (N = 45,070, 53.6% female) and it showed a positive association between the levels of democracy and outgroup tolerance after controlling for gender, age and the rate of immigrants influx from 2010 to 2013. Study 1 demonstrated that members in countries with higher political participation and civil liberty showed greater tolerance toward immigrants. In Study 2, we conducted an experimental study in Taiwan (N = 93, 67.7% female) to further examine two potential mediators (opinion sharing and voting) of the effect of democratic system on tolerance toward outgroups (i.e., attitudes toward mental patients) after controlling for gender and age. We found that when individuals were allowed to share opinions and vote, they had the highest positive other-oriented emotions toward mental patients, which in turn led to greater tolerance toward outgroups compared to those who were not allowed to share opinions or vote. In general, these results demonstrated that the democratic system plays a critical role in increasing outgroup tolerance. Limitations of the two studies and implications regarding opinion sharing, voting, democratic systems, and effects on outgroup tolerance are discussed.

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“…This article seeks to contribute to an empirical and theoretical understanding of democracy and political participation through an ethnography of the meanings attached to voting in rural Tamil Nadu, South India. Despite the substantial insights they offer, election studies have been critiqued for what Lama‐Rewal (:2) calls their focus “on the ‘mechanics’ more than on the ‘substance’ of representative democracy”. Studies of elections and voting tend to explore the processes, trends and patterns of the electoral process rather than taking voting as an entry into understanding democracy and citizenship itself (Chandra ; Diwakar ; Kumar ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies of elections and voting tend to explore the processes, trends and patterns of the electoral process rather than taking voting as an entry into understanding democracy and citizenship itself (Chandra ; Diwakar ; Kumar ). Ethnographic approaches, by contrast, are well suited to the study of the meanings people attach to voting as a key aspect of democracy as well as to an exploration of voting as a window onto culturally specific understandings of rights, duties and citizenship (Banerjee :1556; Lama‐Rewal :4). Yet, remarkably little ethnographic research has focused on elections or on the ideas and meanings the electorate attach to voting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Indians Vote: Reflections on Rights, Citizenship, and Democracy from a Tamil Nadu Village

Carswell

Neve

2014

Antipode

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This paper contributes to an empirical and theoretical understanding of democracy and political participation in India through an ethnographic study of the meanings attached to voting in rural Tamil Nadu. Based on a study of voting in a rural constituency during the 2009 national elections, the paper explores the variety of motivations that compel people to vote. It explores how voting is informed by popular understandings of rights and duties as citizens, programmatic policies and their local implementation, commitment to caste and party loyalties, and authority of charismatic leaders. The paper explores the roots of the political consciousness and rights awareness that underpin high levels of electoral participation. It suggests that elections form unique moments that allow ordinary people to experience an individual sense of citizenship and of democracy itself while at the same time allowing them to pursue projects of recognition, respect and assertion as members of communities. It is precisely this dual feature that makes voting so enduringly attractive to India's contemporary electorate.

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Studying Elections in India: Scientific and Political Debates

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

Special issue: electoral fraud and manipulation in India and Pakistan

Special issue: electoral fraud and manipulation in India and Pakistan

Democratic Systems Increase Outgroup Tolerance Through Opinion Sharing and Voting: An International Perspective

Why Indians Vote: Reflections on Rights, Citizenship, and Democracy from a Tamil Nadu Village

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