Radical Democracy in Modern Indian Political Thought

Radical Democracy in Modern Indian Political Thought explores a theory of robustly democratic, participatory popular sovereignty that emerged in India between the 1910s and 1970s. It advocates for federalist projects of popular government as alternatives to liberal, representative democracy. Tejas Parasher's book reframes the history of twentieth-century anti-colonialism in terms of a contest over the nature of modern political representation and challenges readers to rethink accepted understandings of democracy today.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 20 July 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Between the 1910s and the 1970s, a diverse group of Indian thinkers, constitutional reformers, and political activists formulated a theory of robustly democratic, participatory popular sovereignty. These thinkers viewed parliamentary government and the modern nation-state as susceptible to corruption, advocating for ambitious federalist projects of popular government as alternatives to liberal, representative democracy. Radical Democracy in Modern Indian Political Thought is the first comprehensive study of this counter-tradition of democratic politics in South Asia. By examining well-known historical figures such as Dadabhai Naoroji, M. K. Gandhi, and M. N. Roy alongside long-neglected thinkers from the Indian socialist movement, Tejas Parasher sheds light on the range of political futures envisioned at the end of the British Empire in South Asia. This book reinterprets the history of twentieth-century anti-colonialism in novel terms, as a contest over the nature of modern political representation, and challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of democracy in the present day.

ISBN-13: 9781009305594