'Kanchan Chandra is one of the brightest lights in the new generation of political scholars of India. Chandra's contribution to ethnic studies is her challenge to the pessimistic premise advanced by leading scholars of ethnic politics that ethnic solidarities, unlike class and interest groups, are incompatible with and destructive of democratic processes. In her view, competition among ethnic minorities can lead to centrism and democratic survival rather than extremism and democratic destruction. She argues her case in game theoretic form while showing a good feel for the nitty gritty of Indian electoral settings.' Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, University of Chicago

• List of maps; figures, and tables; List of abbreviations; A note on terminology; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; Part I. Theory: 2. Limited information and ethnic categorization; 3. Patronage-democracy, limited information and ethnic favouritism; 4. Counting heads: why ethnic parties succeed in patronage-democracies; 5. Why parties have different ethnic head counts: party organization and elite incorporation; Part II. Data: 6. India as a patronage-democracy; 7. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Scheduled Castes (SCs); 8. Why SC elites join the BSP; 9. Why SC voters prefer the BSP; 10. Why SC voter preferences translate into BSP votes; 11. Explaining different head counts in the BSP and congress; 12. Extending the argument to other ethnic parties in India: the BJP, the DMK and the JMM; 13. Ethnic head counts and democratic stability; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

'Kanchan Chandra is one of the brightest lights in the new generation of political scholars of India. Chandra's contribution to ethnic studies is her challenge to the pessimistic premise advanced by leading scholars of ethnic politics that ethnic solidarities, unlike class and interest groups, are incompatible with and destructive of democratic processes. In her view, competition among ethnic minorities can lead to centrism and democratic survival rather than extremism and democratic destruction. She argues her case in game theoretic form while showing a good feel for the nitty gritty of Indian electoral settings.' Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, University of Chicago

• List of maps; figures, and tables; List of abbreviations; A note on terminology; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; Part I. Theory: 2. Limited information and ethnic categorization; 3. Patronage-democracy, limited information and ethnic favouritism; 4. Counting heads: why ethnic parties succeed in patronage-democracies; 5. Why parties have different ethnic head counts: party organization and elite incorporation; Part II. Data: 6. India as a patronage-democracy; 7. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Scheduled Castes (SCs); 8. Why SC elites join the BSP; 9. Why SC voters prefer the BSP; 10. Why SC voter preferences translate into BSP votes; 11. Explaining different head counts in the BSP and congress; 12. Extending the argument to other ethnic parties in India: the BJP, the DMK and the JMM; 13. Ethnic head counts and democratic stability; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.