Liberal approach to study Indian politics

MARXIST,GANDHIAN AND LIBERAL are the major approaches to study Indian politics. This module is about liberal perspective. BPSC 132 INDIAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IGNOU.

1. Liberal approach to politics

2. INTRODUCTION Scholars have explained politics in different ways. These ways are known as approaches or perspectives. different approaches to study Indian politics : liberal, Marxist and Gandhian . Liberal perspective views politics in terms of political structures and processes. liberal perspective prefers to use political system in place of the state . It mainly focus on consensus within political system rather than class relations or conflicts.

3. CORE ELEMENTS OF LIBERAL APPROACH Institutions: Political System, Not the State. Processes Values

4. Institutions: Political System, Not the State. Liberal approach uses political system instead of state. Political system consist of certain institutions and structures. Institutions-political parties, interest groups or civil society organisations , government etc. Social structures- religion,caste etc. While these institutions and structures interact with each other conflicts and eventually consensus arises. This approach mainly focusses studying on consensus building. this approach dominated the study of Indian politics for around four decades from the 1950s

5. processes > Functions which are performed by different institutions and organizations. >Functions-political mobilization(voter mobilization and political participation), interest articulation(process of expressing interest),interest aggregations(combining interests into policy). >Impacts of democratization- 1.democratization into lower strata of society 2. transition from traditional semi feudal and traditional to equal and liberal indian society. 3.Emergence of civil society organisations .

6. values liberal approach includes values i.e. liberty, human,rights (individual and community rights) and equalities . It is the duty of state to provide protection to the vulnerable sections, ethnic groups,scheduled tribes , minorities and language and culture of different communities.

7. LIBERAL APPROACH TO STUDY POLITICS Liberal approach when applied to study Indian politics can also be called Systemic approach. Systemic approach was developed by David Easton and James S. Colman to study development of political systems in the developing countries in the 1950s-1960s. As political system develops different political institutions and structures may have conflicts and consensus. Rajni Kothari’s Politics in India uses Systemic approach and categorised Congress party of the 1950s-1960s as Congress System.

8. CRITICISMs C.B. Bhambhri (1974) critiqued Rajni Kothari’s approach for not including class character of the state, location and distribution of political power , the role of imperialism and economic aspects-trade unions,big farmers and industrialists etc. Many scholars studies congress system of different states to understand political system till 1970. Impacts of land reforms, green revolution and other welfare schemes were not given due importance. Eventually state was seen as an autonomous unit and this approach is called statist approach .

9. CHANGING SCOPE OF LIBERAL APPROACH I t is no longer averse to using the concept of state. it studies people’s mobilization through civil society organisations , multiculturism , social capital or in electoral politics

10. Civil society vs Civil society organisation T here are many cases where states have failed to provide or protect their citizens or communities. When such failure occurs civil society society organisations come into play to protect rights of citizens or communities. Neera Chandhoke (1995) explains, civil society is a space that exists between the family and the state. In this space civil society organizations operate .

11. Multiculturalism Liberal approach recognises the rights of not only individuals but also groups. Individuals are brought in a culture and they may tend to live accordingly. Cultural communities generally demand various kinds of rights to maintain their collective identity . Such rights called group, collective or communal rights. According to Mahajan,pluralism -meagre existence of diversity. Multiculturalism- guarantees or attempts to provide cultural rights of religious and linguistic minority communities to preserve their culture, language, and script, and other rig hts.

12. Social Capital- Tocquevillian notion and Robert Putnam Social capital denotes existence of networking among people in a group or community, who share common values and trust each other . Revolutionary social movements to communal riots are impact of this. Ashutosh Varshney's book Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life : Hindus and Muslims in India, in the study of ethnic riots in six cities of India

13. Convergence or similarities btw liberal and Marxist approach. Since the 1980s , there has been a convergence of liberal and Marxist approach. They use terms such as state or political system interchangeably. Pranab Bardhan , a neo-Marxist scholar , contends that in India state is an autonomous actor , which plays an important role in shaping and moulding power relations among classes. According to Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph , Indian state is a centerist state and it function as ‘demand polity ’ (subject to demands from various groups) and ‘command polity ’(power to command).