The Crumbling Political Network and the Fate of Democracy: Explaining Emergency in India, 1975-77

• In Event: 3454 - Political Contention and Transformation

Abstract

The formation of cohesive political elite networks plays a crucial role in stabilizing democracy. Once formed, how and why do these networks evolve, and how do changes within them affect democratization processes? In this article, I synthesize Bourdieu’s and network scholars’ insights on networking practices along with qualitative and quantitative network data to study how and why the Indian political elite network changed during the 1971-75 period, eventually leading to the only period of authoritarianism in India, the Emergency period (1975-77). The general lesson to be learned from this study is that the political elite’s authority reproduction strategies deeply influence their networks and, under certain circumstances, can have a seriously destabilizing effect on democracy.

Author

• Sourabh Singh, Florida State University