Social Structure, Elite Interests and Party System Development in Colonial India

• In Event: Social Coalitions, Competition, and Culture in Political Development

Abstract

This paper examines the social and economic bases of party-system development in Colonial India. Using novel data on the first limited franchise elections held in colonial India in 1920 and the 1921 caste and economic census, we study how elite competition over land and caste status shaped vote choice and electoral competition. Next, exploiting differences in the district-level indentured emigration rates to various British colonies in the mid-nineteenth to early-twentieth centuries, we argue that changing the social structure of the districts shaped party development in 1920. Emigration can theoretically shape political party development for three reasons. It can change the ethnic or economic composition of the district, leading to changes in the extent to which parties can mobilize identity. It can lead to an outflow of the (potentially) politically active citizens, thereby, leaving behind a politically passive population that can then be subjugated by elites. Or it can lead to learning amongst the population, via multiple channels, and cause the population to become politically more active leading to inclusive political institutions. We explore evidence for each of these channels and their implications for party system development in India’s first elections.

Author

• Pavithra Suryanarayan, Johns Hopkins University