A crisis of governability is growing in India, and this book is an attempt to explain the roots of the crisis. During the 1950s and 1960s, many scholars and observers were worried about India's political viability. But the nation did not disintegrate into smaller states as some observers had expected, and democracy has survived there as well. The political concern that has been growing since the 1970s involves a different question: Can India's democratic government simultaneously accommodate conflicting interests and promote socioeconomic development? Indian governments that have been elected with large majorities have repeatedly failed to translate popular support into effective policies, and the role of violence in politics has been growing steadily. In late 1989, when this book was nearly finished and about to go to press, the results of a national election raised doubts about the continuing ability of India's politicians to form a stable majority government.

What factors are responsible for this growing crisis of governability in the world's largest democracy? This study analyzes the political changes in India under the two Gandhis, Indira and Rajiv, from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. The materials for the study were gathered mainly through fieldwork in India in 1985 and 1986. The book was substantially written during 1987 and 1988, before the 1989 national elections.

Detailed investigation of local, regional, and national politics leads to the proposition that the roots of India's growing problems of governability are more political than socioeconomic; that is, they are located mainly in India's political structure.