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Committee assignment patterns in fragmented multiparty settings: Party personnel practices and coalition management
Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
This paper addresses the way parties assign members to parliamentary committees in fragmented multiparty settings. Thus, it analyzes how the two most central institutions of parliamentary politics––political parties and parliamentary committees––interact with one another. To the best of our knowledge, no research into this subject has systematically explored the intersection of considerations based on individual legislator characteristics and coalition management in committee assignment. Using Israel as our case study, we show that legislators' expertise modestly shapes committee assignment patterns. However, parties in coalition often have another set of considerations to take into account when assigning members to committees. We show that parties in coalition do not only bargain on ministerial positions or committee chairs––they also bargain on their members’ assignment to committees and use this resource to allow (or hinder) each other to augment influence and control in a given policy area, or to perform affective monitoring.
This paper addresses the way parties assign members to parliamentary committees in fragmented multiparty settings. Thus, it analyzes how the two most central institutions of parliamentary politics––political parties and parliamentary committees––interact with one another. To the best of our knowledge, no research into this subject has systematically explored the intersection of considerations based on individual legislator characteristics and coalition management in committee assignment. Using Israel as our case study, we show that legislators' expertise modestly shapes committee assignment patterns. However, parties in coalition often have another set of considerations to take into account when assigning members to committees. We show that parties in coalition do not only bargain on ministerial positions or committee chairs––they also bargain on their members’ assignment to committees and use this resource to allow (or hinder) each other to augment influence and control in a given policy area, or to perform affective monitoring.
Let the voters decide: Incumbents, opposition, and contested primaries in Argentina
Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
Citizens’ ability to influence public decisions is the hallmark of democracy, and central to this are candidate selection mechanisms. Despite the increasing popularity of primaries across the globe, scholars disagree on how incumbency status shapes primary election contests. To address this question, I exploit an electoral reform in Argentina that forces parties and coalitions to participate in primaries, but allows these to be contested or uncontested. Employing an original data set on federal legislative nominations between 2011 and 2017, I show that internal divisions encourage contested primaries within the opposition, to which district-level rivals strategically respond in kind by fielding multiple internal lists to counter any potential electoral “bonus” others may enjoy from contesting in primaries. Combined with the influence of presidents and governors over selection procedures, these patterns entail that primary races are closely fought within the opposition but trouble-free under incumbency status.
Citizens’ ability to influence public decisions is the hallmark of democracy, and central to this are candidate selection mechanisms. Despite the increasing popularity of primaries across the globe, scholars disagree on how incumbency status shapes primary election contests. To address this question, I exploit an electoral reform in Argentina that forces parties and coalitions to participate in primaries, but allows these to be contested or uncontested. Employing an original data set on federal legislative nominations between 2011 and 2017, I show that internal divisions encourage contested primaries within the opposition, to which district-level rivals strategically respond in kind by fielding multiple internal lists to counter any potential electoral “bonus” others may enjoy from contesting in primaries. Combined with the influence of presidents and governors over selection procedures, these patterns entail that primary races are closely fought within the opposition but trouble-free under incumbency status.
Navayana Buddhism and the Scheduled Castes of West Bengal
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Though Buddhism began to revive in India in the late nineteenth century, Buddhist organizations did not pay much attention to bring the Dalits into their folds. Rather, the lower caste communities had aspired for constructing respectable caste identities in the late colonial period. However, conversion of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) to a modified form of Buddhism (called ‘neo-Buddhism’) has appeared as a sociocultural tool for the Dalits to fight against the casteism. In this paper, we have highlightws the background of the introduction of neo-Buddhism and the location of the Scheduled Castes of West Bengal in it.
Though Buddhism began to revive in India in the late nineteenth century, Buddhist organizations did not pay much attention to bring the Dalits into their folds. Rather, the lower caste communities had aspired for constructing respectable caste identities in the late colonial period. However, conversion of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) to a modified form of Buddhism (called ‘neo-Buddhism’) has appeared as a sociocultural tool for the Dalits to fight against the casteism. In this paper, we have highlightws the background of the introduction of neo-Buddhism and the location of the Scheduled Castes of West Bengal in it.
Caste, Social Inequalities and Maternal Healthcare Services in India: Evidence from the National Family and Health Survey
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
This study examines the level of access and utilization of maternal care health services among different socially disadvantaged groups in India. The study uses the data from the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015–2016. We have used descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis to assess the trends and prevalence of maternal healthcare services among different social groups. Using logistic regression, we have estimated the association of different socio-economic variables on maternal healthcare services among different socially disadvantaged groups in India. The results suggest tremendous inequality in access to maternal healthcare services among socially disadvantaged groups in India. It was found that several factors such as women’s education, working status, household wealth quintile and mass media exposure significantly impact access and utilization of maternal healthcare services among various socially disadvantaged groups. In addition, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women are subjected to socio-economic discrimination at multiple levels, and their maternal healthcare situation remains highly fragile. The social identity and caste-based socio-economic inequalities remain a major challenge in India to assure universal access to maternal healthcare services.
This study examines the level of access and utilization of maternal care health services among different socially disadvantaged groups in India. The study uses the data from the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015–2016. We have used descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis to assess the trends and prevalence of maternal healthcare services among different social groups. Using logistic regression, we have estimated the association of different socio-economic variables on maternal healthcare services among different socially disadvantaged groups in India. The results suggest tremendous inequality in access to maternal healthcare services among socially disadvantaged groups in India. It was found that several factors such as women’s education, working status, household wealth quintile and mass media exposure significantly impact access and utilization of maternal healthcare services among various socially disadvantaged groups. In addition, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women are subjected to socio-economic discrimination at multiple levels, and their maternal healthcare situation remains highly fragile. The social identity and caste-based socio-economic inequalities remain a major challenge in India to assure universal access to maternal healthcare services.
Ethnic versus national identity and satisfaction with democracy: The decline of the ethnic cleavage in Nigeria?
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Ethnic versus national identity and satisfaction with democracy: The decline of the ethnic cleavage in Nigeria?
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Urban Geopolitics in ’Ordinary’ and ’Contested’ Cities: Perspectives from the European South-East
Book review: Sekhar Bandyopadhyay & Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury, Caste and Partition in Bengal: The Story of Dalit Refugees, 1946–1961
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Sekhar Bandyopadhyay & Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury, Caste and Partition in Bengal: The Story of Dalit Refugees, 1946–1961 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022), 272 pp. ₹1,495, ISBN 978-0-19-285972-3 (Hardcover).
Sekhar Bandyopadhyay & Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury, Caste and Partition in Bengal: The Story of Dalit Refugees, 1946–1961 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022), 272 pp. ₹1,495, ISBN 978-0-19-285972-3 (Hardcover).
Dalit Humanism: Marginal Spatial Reality as a Site of Dalit Counterpublic in Bama’s Sangati and Tulsiram’s Murdahiya
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
In India, one of the major counter-discourses constituted to critique the culture of violence, silence and impunity, harboured by the Indian public sphere, is offered by Dalit literary writings. Dalit counterpublic highlights the alternate cultural spaces that subvert and disrupt the dominant structures of repression by valuing the Dalit standpoint. The present article claims that the Dalit counterpublic is subaltern as well as locational; subalternity is based on the marginal position prescribed to Dalit people in the Indian social and cultural structure while location refers to the geopolitical territorial segregation. Bama’s Sangati and Tulsiram’s Murdahiya have been analysed using theoretical perspectives of counterpublic proposed by critics such as Nancy Fraser, Kanika Batra and Michel Warner. The findings suggest that Dalit people have transformed Dalit marginal site into a source of resistance.
In India, one of the major counter-discourses constituted to critique the culture of violence, silence and impunity, harboured by the Indian public sphere, is offered by Dalit literary writings. Dalit counterpublic highlights the alternate cultural spaces that subvert and disrupt the dominant structures of repression by valuing the Dalit standpoint. The present article claims that the Dalit counterpublic is subaltern as well as locational; subalternity is based on the marginal position prescribed to Dalit people in the Indian social and cultural structure while location refers to the geopolitical territorial segregation. Bama’s Sangati and Tulsiram’s Murdahiya have been analysed using theoretical perspectives of counterpublic proposed by critics such as Nancy Fraser, Kanika Batra and Michel Warner. The findings suggest that Dalit people have transformed Dalit marginal site into a source of resistance.