Ambedkar’s Proposal to Safeguards Minorities Against Communal Majority in Democracy

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
Sukhadeo Thorat
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
British India ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Scheduled Castes

As early as in 1909, the British had accepted the principle of political representation in the central and provincial legislatures for religious minorities in British India. In 1909, the Muslims were given representation in the central and provincial legislatures through nominations. Other small minorities were also accorded political representation through separate electorate and/or through nomination. Later, in the 1935 Act, political representation through separate electorates was retained for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans. The 1935 Act also accorded separate electorate to the Scheduled Castes (SCs). However, in case of the SCs, the separate electorate was replaced by a ‘joint’ electorate method under pressure from Gandhiji’s fast unto death. In the new Constitution of India in 1950, the political reservation was withdrawn for most of the minorities except the SC and Scheduled Tribes (STs). SCs and STs were awarded political reservation through the ‘joint electorate’ method. However, Ambedkar had proposed a comprehensive scheme for the political representation for social and religious minorities based on the principal of balanced representation, rule of unanimity and principal of faith and confidence.

Genealogy, authority and Muslim political representation in British India

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-465
Author(s):  
EVE TIGNOL
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Community Identity ◽  
North India ◽  
The Political ◽  
British India ◽  
Political Realm ◽  
Power And Influence

AbstractThis article reflects on the significance of genealogy for Sayyids and other Muslim elites in British North India by exploring some literary productions and political endeavours of the Aligarh movement. At the end of the nineteenth century, poems recalling the extra-Indian origins of Muslim elites became increasingly popular, as Altaf Husain Hali's Musaddas best exemplified. Translating an anxiety of seeing their power and influence reduced in the colonial world, such nostalgic discourse, intertwining representations of lineage and authority, promptly entered the political realm. The genealogy rhetoric deployed in Urdu poetry played a significant role in sustaining the claims of the leaders of the Aligarh movement as they strove to bolster a cohesive sharīf community identity and secure political leadership during the anti-Congress propaganda of 1888 as well as to obtain advantages from British officials according to their so-called political importance. In this context, this article emphasises that in Aligarh's nostalgic poetry, the greatest political weight was put on belonging to the ashrāf category rather than to the Sayyids, who only occasionally feature in the sources.

The Revival of Buddhist Nationalism in Thailand and Its Adverse Impact on Religious Freedom

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Adverse Impact ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
The Government

Abstract Triggered by the sense of crisis, the Thai state and Thai Buddhism are renewing their traditional relationship kindled by the monarch-led reform over a century ago. Thai Buddhism is reviving its lost aura and hegemony while the political conservatives are looking for legitimacy and collective identity in a time of democratic regression. The result is the rise of the Buddhist-nationalistic movement, Buddhist-as-Thainess notion. The phenomenon has grown more mainstream in recent years. These extreme Buddhists pressure the government to adopt a new constitutional relationship that brings the two entities closer to a full establishment. They also target both religious minorities as well as non-mainstream Buddhists. The revival of Buddhist nationalism foretells rising tension as well as diminishing religious freedom.

Understanding Change and Stability in Party Ideologies: Do Parties Respond to Public Opinion or to Past Election Results?

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES ADAMS ◽  
MICHAEL CLARK ◽  
LAWRENCE EZROW ◽  
GARRETT GLASGOW
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Post War ◽  
Election Strategies ◽  
West European

Previous research explains the evolution of parties' ideological positions in terms of decision rules that stress the uncertainty of the political environment. The authors extend this research by examining whether parties adjust their ideologies in response to two possible influences: shifts in public opinion, and past election results. Their empirical analyses, which are based on the Comparative Manifesto Project's codings of parties' post-war programmes in eight West European nations, suggest that parties respond to shifts in public opinion, but that these effects are only significant in situations where public opinion is clearly shifting away from the party's policy positions. By contrast, no evidence is found here that parties adjust their ideologies in response to past election results. These findings have important implications for parties' election strategies and for models of political representation.

Performing Politics: Propaganda, Parody and a Women's Parliament

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-193
Author(s):  
Kym Bird
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Feminist Theatre ◽  
Liberal Ideology ◽  
Material Feminism ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
White Womanhood

The initial phase of women's drama in Canada coincides with the first wave of 19th-century Canadian feminism and the Canadian women's reform movement. At the time, a variety of women wrote and staged plays that grew out of their commitment to the political, ideological and social context of the movement. The 'Mock Parliament,' a form of theatrical parody in which men's and women's roles are reversed, was collectively created by different groups of suffragists in Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. This article attempts to recuperate these works for a history of Canadian feminist theatre. It will argue that the 'dual' conservative and liberal ideology of the suffrage movement informs all aspects of the Mock Parliament. On the one hand, these plays critique the division of gender roles that material feminism wants to uphold; they are testimony to the strength of a woman's movement that knew how to work as equal players within traditionally structured political organizations. On the other hand, they betray the safe, moderate tactics of an upper and middle-class, white womanhood who wanted political representation but no structural social change. These opposing tensions are inherent in theatrical parody which is both imitative and critical.

scholarly journals O Problema do Poder Efetivo na Câmara dos Deputados

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renan Barbosa de Morais ◽  
Mário César San Felice ◽  
Pedro Henrique Del Bianco Hokama ◽  
Gabriel Ávila Casalecchi
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Power Index ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Mathematical Concept ◽  
The Political ◽  
Effective Power ◽  
The One ◽  
Index Problem

Proportionality in political representation is an essential theme forrepresentative democracy. In Brazil, this debate appears in the contextof non-proportionality between a federative unit’s populationsize and its number of representatives in the Chamber of Deputies.In other words, the number of deputies in a state is not proportionalto its number of inhabitants, which violates the "one man, one vote"principle.Discussions around this disproportionality have motivated scholarsto develop empirical research that aims to identify the causesand consequences of the phenomenon and to analyze the impactthat the rule introduces in the political process. This article seeksto contribute to this debate by measuring the effective power ofeach Brazilian federation’s entity and proposing alternatives ofdistribution for the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies.To this end, we use a mathematical concept from game theory,called Power Index, which allows quantifying the existing representationaldiscrepancies. After evaluating several distributions, wesolved the Inverse Power Index Problem (IPIP) to obtain a distributionof chairs that reduces such disparities. To solve the IPIP, whichis computationally hard, we use an evolutionary heuristic. As anobjective function to minimize the discrepancy, we use the linearShapley rule, in which the power index of each state is proportionalto its population.

scholarly journals Mecanismos de representación y control social en dos sociedades coloniales: Filipinas y Vietnam en perspectiva comparadaPolitical representation and social control mechanisms in two colonial societies: the Spanish Philippines and French Indochina in comparative perspective

2017 ◽  
pp. 230
Author(s):  
Juan Antonio Inarejos Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Local Power ◽  
Municipal Elections ◽  
Siglo Xix ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Selection Of

RESUMENEn este artículo se plantea un análisis comparativo de los mecanismos de representación política y control social implantados en dos sociedades coloniales: las Filipinas españolas y la Indochina francesa. Este tema forma parte de una investigación más amplia centrada en la selección de las élites locales filipinas durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y los proyectos de reforma de los sistemas de representación local vietnamita bajo dominio colonial francés. Se trazan en clave comparativa las principales similitudes y diferencias con los mecanismos de representación y control social desplegados en ambos escenarios, aspectos claves a la hora de comprender las razones que determinaron el final de ambas experiencias coloniales en el sudeste asiático.PALABRAS CLAVE: Filipinas, Indochina, colonialismo, elecciones locales, podermunicipal.ABSTRACTThis study presents a comparative analysis of the political representation and socialcontrol implemented in two colonial societies: the Spanish Philippines and French Indochina. This topic is part of a broader study focused on the selection of the native elite in the Spanish Philippines in the nineteenth century and on the projects to reform local representation in French Indochina. The main similarities and differences in the representation and social control mechanisms in both scenarios are described as they are key aspects when it comes to understanding the end of these two colonial experiences in South East Asia. This diverse tool kit included the political use of productive resources, individual conduct reports, the development of clientelist networks, the manipulation of religious beliefs, abuse and repression.KEY WORDS: Philippines, Indochina, colonialism, municipal elections, local power.

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