Consolidating Democracy : Politicization and Partisanship in India

The data reveal the prevalence of party loyalties at all levels of Indian society, their prominence relative to their political attributes, and their strong - but non exclusive - linkage to legitimacy orientations.

Based on an analysis of survey data collected from a national sample of the Indian population in 1966, this study addresses itself to theoretical issues like the origins of popular politicization, its meaning for political development, and the appropriateness of democracy for the new states of Asia and Africa. The development of party affiliations by ordinary citizens is one indication that politicization is occurring. In India, partisanship (indeed, politicization generally) would seem to be a consequence more of political penetration than of modernization or social mobilization. Conceivably, too, partisanship represents an important democratic ingredient in mass political culture. More fundamentally, partisanship may predispose people to certain beliefs concerning the conduct of political affairs and hence contribute to the ‘cultural institutionalization’ of democracy. The ultimate question is how a system like democracy acquires an indigenous mass base in a society to which it is not native.