Note: / Many studies explore the determinants of support for ethnic parties, and the consequences of such parties for democracy. This dissertation addresses these questions through a study of the Bahujan Samaj Party (B.S.P.) in India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh (U.P.). The BSP is India's only successful lower caste party, and gained greatest support over the last two decades in U.P., which it now rules. The dissertation argues that material benefits, delivered on a programmatic basis, account for the success of the B.S.P., and perhaps other ethnic parties too, among poorer groups.[...] / De nombreuses etudes se penchent sur les facteurs expliquant l’appui citoyen aux parris ethniques ainsi que les consequences d’un tel appui en ce qui a trait a la democratie. Cette these aborde ces questions a u·avers une etude du Parti Bahujan Samaj (PBS) dans le plus grand Etat indien, !’Uttar Pradesh (UP). Le PBS est le seul parti de basses castes ayant connu un succes electoral en Inde, et dirige maintenant l’UP, resultat d’une popularite croissante au cours des deux dernieres decennies. Cette these argumente que les avantages materiels, distribues de facon programmatique, expliquent le succes du PBS, et sans doute celui d’autres parris ethniques representant les couches les plus pauvres de la societe.[...]

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This thesis represents an attempt to explain the phenomenon of secession through the role of political leadership in the Partition of India in 1947 and the secession of East Pakistan from West Pakistan in 1971. Although there is no single factor, which by itself, adequately explains secession, it is assumed in this thesis that political leadership, as one factor in many, is one of the more important, if not the most important, variables in understanding the occurrence of secession and of movements directed toward that goal. One of the two major hypotheses underlying this analysis is that the primary goal of political leaders is to obtain and maintain positions of political power and authority from where they can affect the polity which they seek to rule. The second hypothesis is that secession is a means or a leadership strategy in the struggle for authority whereby political leaders seek to gain their primary goal. Given this perspective on secession, the body of the thesis is concerned mainly with leadership interaction and with the bargains and negotiations between leaders which focus and limit their course of action in the struggle for authority. It is this narrowing down of alternative courses of action which ultimately propels leaders into adopting secessionist-oriented policies. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Since the early 1980's, the Punjab state of India has been in turmoil as a result of a separatist movement that developed among elements of the Sikh community. Political tensions not only characterized the relationship between the Punjab and New Delhi/ but also between Sikhs and Hindus and among different segments within the Sikh community itself. The most important attempt to end the conflict in the state has been the Rajiv Gandhi-Sant Longowal Accord signed on July 24, 1985. However, the Accord failed and by mid-1987 the Punjab was once again racked by political violence. This thesis focuses on the events that led to the signing of the Accord and the forces that caused its demise. Bargaining theory provides the general theoretical framework against which the data are analyzed. This thesis highlights the fact that political bargains in Third World weakly-institutionalized states are often the result of particular configurations of political power which are short lived. The corollary of this is that once the configuration of political forces changes, the chances of success for the previously reached political bargain are weakened. In the particular case of the Punjab Accord, there was a change, beginning in late 1985, in the relative political power of the participants in the bargain. Also, the terms of the bargained Accord unleashed forces on both sides which undermined its implementation. Third World leaders should draw two major lessons from this. First, they should be careful not to have exaggerated perceptions of their power since this may be counterproductive in the future if they cannot deliver what they have promised. Second, these leaders should attempt to consult all interests with a stake in the bargained settlement as a way to prevent opposition to it. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The dissertation will address the ongoing debate in Comparative Politics about the virtues and pathologies of rational choice theory by testing competing hypotheses and predictions to account for three aspects of party politics in India: the transformation of the Indian political party system from a predominant to an even multiparty system; the politics of government formation; and the politics of government stability. Overall, the dissertation will pursue two arguments. First, rational choice models and predictions can account for the empirical cases more consistently than hypotheses and predictions derived from other paradigms. Second, by using India as the case on which to test competing theories, it will be shown that non-Western political phenomena are not sui generis and they may be accounted for in terms of comparative theory the same way as Western phenomena have been. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

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