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Democracy has become an accepted lexicon among ruling elites and the general public through the twentieth century. However, there are also doubts about its strength in the current century. Looking at survey data, this article attempts a first-cut analysis of citizens' commitment to democracy. Taking an elected government as the primary principle of democracy, do citizens make concessions to non-elected decision-making processes? This article focuses on the five countries of South Asia to answer this question and arrives at the conclusion that there is often a large gap between a broader acceptance of democratic government as a principle and the more nuanced acceptance of democratic government as a necessary element of democracy.

The BJP victory in the 2019 elections is attributed to a range of factors. This article examines the role of the leadership factor in propelling the BJP to victory in this election. While the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP/NDA was clearly the preferred choice, the National Election Study 2019, undertaken by Lokniti–CSDS, indicates that one-thirds of those who supported the BJP would have altered their voting preference if Modi were not to be the Prime Ministerial candidate of the party. The article explores the leadership factor in the 2019 election and concludes that it was a major factor that influenced voter choice.

This article assesses the outcome of state assembly elections in Karnataka held in 2013. Extensively using the Lokniti- Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi Pre-Poll Survey data, the article concludes that the verdict was more an unequivocal indictment of the state government rather than a pro-Congress vote. A Congress victory in the state was essentially the channelizing of an anti-incumbency vote. The article also makes out the case that the vote for a party is often a function of the voter's perception of the organizational strength of the party. Mapping electoral developments in the state, the article concludes that a phase of authentic multi-party competition is clearly ushered in by the 2013 electoral verdict.

THE CONCEPT OF NATIONAL INTEGRATION AS APPLIED TO INDIA MUST BE ANALYZED IN THE BROADER FRAMEWORK OF HISTORICAL TRADITIONS, THE PRESENT CONDITIONS, AND THE INTERPLAY OF VARIED SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND CULTURAL FORCES. WHEN VIEWED FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE, NATIONAL INTEGRATION WOULD IMPLY ACHIEVING COHESION AMONG THE DIVERGENT FORCES AND FACTORS OPERATING IN THE NATION AND COORDINATING THE MENTAL PROCESS OF THE INDIVIDUALS THAT FORM SOCIETY. THUS, NATIONAL INTEGRATION MUST BE VIEWED BOTH AT THE OPERATIONAL (ADMINISTRATIVE) LEVEL AND AT THE MENTAL (INTELLECTUAL) LEVEL.

1. Religious practices, identities, and political representation 1. - 2. The influence of religious practice 33. - 3. Social domination: caste and political representation 59. - 4. Avenues for the connected: civic associations 87. - 5. Political institutions and the reproduction of inequalities 113. - 6. Party competition, social divisions, and representation 141. - 7. Conclusion 171