Refreshing Analysis of Coalition Governments in the Current Scenario

BOOK REVIEW

PREETPAL SINGH

Dynamics of Party System and Coalition Governments in India by Ranpal Singh and Tejvir Singh (eds.); Alfa Publications, New Delhi; 2012; pp. XVIII + 143; Rs 700.

The Constitution-makers had set up a parliamentary system of government in India. But that needed a two-party system. Hence, the Single-Ballot-Simple-Majority System had been introduced instead of the Proportional Representation System to ensure the same. But the historic role of the Congress in the national movement on the one hand, and the charisma of Nehru on the
other, had led to the emergence of a One-Party Dominant System in India. This converted our parliamentary system into a Prime Ministerial System. But the subsequent regionalisation of Indian politics due to the cumulative impact of the processes of modernisation, politicisation and economic development on the one hand, and the fall-out of the processes of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation on the other, led to the conversion of the One-Party System into a Multi-Party System. This in turn led to the emergence of the phenomenon of Coalition Governments in 1996.

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SINCE then, a large number of books have been published on this subject. But, most of them have not given adequate attention to the dynamics of the party system which has been instrumental in converting the Single-Party Governments into Coalition Governments. This book, however, is refreshingly different in the sense that it has not only examined the correlation between the Multi-Party System and Coalition Governments but has also included case studies on Coalition Govern-ments in Punjab and Haryana.

The book has been divided into three parts: ‘Party System in India’, ‘Coalition Governments in India’ and ‘The Case Studies of Coalition Governments in the States’. The first part includes three equally good articles on “Dynamics of Party Systems in India” by Ranbir Singh; “From One-Party Dominance to Multi-Party System” by Jiley Singh and “Polity Under Strain, Making Political Parties Accountable” by V. Eshwar Anand. The second part contains as many as ten articles. But among these, only two provide new insights into the dynamics of Coalition Governments. These are: “Institutions, Incentives and Interactions” by Chanchal Kumar Sharma and T.P. Singh, and “Coalition Governments in India: Theoretical Explanations” by Vinay K. Malhotra. The third part includes three case studies on Haryana and Punjab. But out of these only “Coalition Politics in Punjab: A Study of Akali Dal-BJP Coalition” by Bhupinder Singh is upto the mark.

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The Foreword by Ajay Chautala and the Intro-duction by Ranpal Singh provide the needed perspective to the above mentioned studies. While Chautala has argued that the multi-party system and coalition governments are bound to conti-nue in future as well, Singh has discussed their evolution.
On the whole, this book deserves recognition as a study which can be useful for scholars in the field of Indian Government and Politics. It can also be helpful to the researchers in the area of State Politics in India. Therefore, the contributors and the editors deserve to be complimented for this venture. The publishers too merit a word of praise for bringing out this attractive book with a reaso-nable price.

Dr Preetpal Singh is an Assistant Professor, Haryana Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri.