Steven I. Wilkinson is Nilekani Professor of India and South Asia and Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Yale University. Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India was co-winner of the American Political Science Association's 2005 Woodrow Wilson Foundation prize. He is currently researching the links between colonial inheritances and post-independence levels of democracy, governance and conflict.

'In this important book, Wilkinson provides strong arguments against some prevailing theories concerning the causes of interethnic violence in competitive political regimes, including those that associate it with state strength or weakness, the presence or absence of consociational arrangements and practices, or 'civic engagement' through 'interethnic associations'. To the contrary, he provides persuasive evidence, from contemporary India and other parts of the world, that electoral calculations and governmental will are decisive factors in promoting or preventing interreligious and interethnic violence.' Paul R. Brass, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and South Asian Studies, University of Washington

• List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgments; 1. The electoral incentives for ethnic violence; 2. Explaining town-level variation in Hindu-Muslim violence; 3. State capacity explanations for Hindu-Muslim violence; 4. The consociational explanation for Hindu-Muslim violence; 5. The electoral incentives for Hindu-Muslim violence; 6. Party competition and Hindu-Muslim violence; 7. The electoral incentives for ethnic violence in comparative perspective; 8. Democracy and ethnic violence; Appendices; References; Index.

Steven I. Wilkinson is Nilekani Professor of India and South Asia and Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Yale University. Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India was co-winner of the American Political Science Association's 2005 Woodrow Wilson Foundation prize. He is currently researching the links between colonial inheritances and post-independence levels of democracy, governance and conflict.

'In this important book, Wilkinson provides strong arguments against some prevailing theories concerning the causes of interethnic violence in competitive political regimes, including those that associate it with state strength or weakness, the presence or absence of consociational arrangements and practices, or 'civic engagement' through 'interethnic associations'. To the contrary, he provides persuasive evidence, from contemporary India and other parts of the world, that electoral calculations and governmental will are decisive factors in promoting or preventing interreligious and interethnic violence.' Paul R. Brass, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and South Asian Studies, University of Washington

• List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgments; 1. The electoral incentives for ethnic violence; 2. Explaining town-level variation in Hindu-Muslim violence; 3. State capacity explanations for Hindu-Muslim violence; 4. The consociational explanation for Hindu-Muslim violence; 5. The electoral incentives for Hindu-Muslim violence; 6. Party competition and Hindu-Muslim violence; 7. The electoral incentives for ethnic violence in comparative perspective; 8. Democracy and ethnic violence; Appendices; References; Index.

Steven I. Wilkinson is Nilekani Professor of India and South Asia and Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Yale University. Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India was co-winner of the American Political Science Association's 2005 Woodrow Wilson Foundation prize. He is currently researching the links between colonial inheritances and post-independence levels of democracy, governance and conflict.

'In this important book, Wilkinson provides strong arguments against some prevailing theories concerning the causes of interethnic violence in competitive political regimes, including those that associate it with state strength or weakness, the presence or absence of consociational arrangements and practices, or 'civic engagement' through 'interethnic associations'. To the contrary, he provides persuasive evidence, from contemporary India and other parts of the world, that electoral calculations and governmental will are decisive factors in promoting or preventing interreligious and interethnic violence.' Paul R. Brass, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and South Asian Studies, University of Washington

• List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgments; 1. The electoral incentives for ethnic violence; 2. Explaining town-level variation in Hindu-Muslim violence; 3. State capacity explanations for Hindu-Muslim violence; 4. The consociational explanation for Hindu-Muslim violence; 5. The electoral incentives for Hindu-Muslim violence; 6. Party competition and Hindu-Muslim violence; 7. The electoral incentives for ethnic violence in comparative perspective; 8. Democracy and ethnic violence; Appendices; References; Index.