India after the 2014 general elections: BJP dominance and the crisis of the third party system
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Regional and Federal Studies
Abstract
This article critically assesses claims that India has entered a new party system
after the 2014 general elections, marked by renationalisation with the BJP as
the new ‘dominant’ party.’ To assess these claims, we examine the electoral
rise of the BJP in the build-up to and since the 2014 general elections until
the state assembly elections in December 2018. Overall, we argue that despite
the emerging dominance of the BJP, a core feature of the third party system
-a system of binodal interactions- has remained largely intact albeit in a
somewhat weaker form. Furthermore, by comparing the post 2014 Indian
party system with key electoral features of the first three party systems, we
conclude that the rise of the BJP has thrown the third-party system into crisis,
but does not yet define the consolidation of a new party system.
Description
Keywords
India; party system; nationalization; BJP; Congress Party