Religious Practice and Democracy in India

Pradeep K. Chhibber is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also serves as the Indo-American Community Chair of India Studies. His two previous books have won awards from the American Political Science Association. His articles have been published in such journals as the American Political Science Review, the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Politics, and Party Politics. He is an active contributor to the op-ed pages of the Indian Express.

'On the basis of several surveys, Pradeep Chhibber argues counterintuitively that the more they practice a religion, the more Indians support democracy. This correlation largely stems from the fact that 'ties created through religious practice build sympathetic ties between representatives and citizens'. Religious ties, indeed, foster horizontal bonds at the expense of the hierarchical arrangement of society. The correlative erosion of caste and other intermediate bodies may also result in Hindu majoritarianism. Chhibber very pertinently admits that ethnio-religious ideologies are the greatest danger for democracy in India. This book is most topical indeed.' Christophe Jaffrelot, CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS and King's India Institute, London

• 1. Religious practices, identities, and political representation; 2. The influence of religious practice; 3. Social domination: caste and political representation; 4. Avenues for the connected: civic associations; 5. Political institutions and the reproduction of inequalities; 6. Party competition, social divisions, and representation; 7. Conclusion.