Criminalisatio of Indian Politics

In the article “Democracy in Decline: How Washington Can Reverse the Tide,” the author, Larry Diamond, details the declination of democracy across the world as a global issue. Diamond explains that, following the Cold War, democracy became vibrant across the world. However, it slowly began to decline, which was seen in Kenya, Russia, Thailand, and Turkey. Additionally, other non-democratic states, particularly authoritarian regimes, are drifting further away from democracy, becoming less responsive to their people. Diamond explains that these authoritarian states are becoming less open because they are increasing their censorships and are arresting those who resist. Furthermore, these governments are also restricting organizations from outside communications and operations. Nearly a hundred laws have been enacted in the past four years restricting freedom of assembly in governments across the world.

One citizen in particular that thrives due to the corrupt system is Asha Waghekar. Asha comes from a childhood of rural poverty, and when she sees the opportunity to become part of the middle class, she takes it. However, this route is not the most noble of routes. She turns to political corruption in order to come out on top, and hopefully someday become Slumlord. Asha starts down her path of corruption, when she decides to start helping her neighbors solve their problems. She believes that “when she ha[s] real control over the slum, she could create problems in order to fix them … she’d learned [this] by studying the Corporator” (20). Asha’s way of thinking allows her to not only overcome the corruption in Annawadi, but become entrenched in it. She sees the good in this, because it allows her to skip all of the usual steps to make money. She is also able to reason it to herself, she states “[h]ow can anyone say I am doing wrong when the big people did all the papers—when the big people say that it’s right?” (228). Some people are able to reason corruption, in order to allow them to feel okay with it and Asha is one of those people. Fortunately for Asha, she is able to become one of the most powerful people in Annawadi. Therefore, Asha is able to use corruption to allow her to get ahead and take advantage of powerless individuals. Corruption is able to improve the lives of the

Political Philosophy is typically a study of a wide range of topics such as, justice, liberty, equality, rights, law, politics and the application of a codified law. Depending on what the philosophy is, it usually tends to be a very sensitive and a personal ideology that an individual holds within the reality of their existence. Several of the fundamental topics of political philosophy shape up the society that we live in as these specific topics and their implementation by the state ensures a legitimate government. In Political Philosophy, the aforesaid concepts or topics are evaluated and analyzed with tremendous depth in context to their history and intent. Furthermore, in a rather colloquial sense, political

Politics is not as the common person may define it. It is not dependent of any other doctrine or ideology; it is its

The Oxford Dictionary defines politics as the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power. Comparative politics is the interdisciplinary study of how power is organized across time and space. It connects the operation of power across multiple time and spatial scales and identifies the similarities and differences of how power operates across space and time.

Democracy: A political system in which citizens enjoy a number of basic civil and political rights, and in which their most important political leaders are elected in free and fair elections and accountable under a rule of law (26). In the studies we have undertaken, comparing and exploring various countries and systems politically, economically, and psychologically throughout the quarter, this outcry of democracy has prevailed as a main theme. Successful countries such as the United States and Great Britain are based upon such democratic ideals. It is no wonder that countries have striven more recently toward this goal of democratization. Both the Russian and Mexican revolutions prove that democracy is an attainable goal in the next

The final chapter of this book is a look at what can be done in order to correct this current situation. The main way this chapter sees to improve it is by compulsory voting. It does also give a couple

In the case that politicians do not live up to the ideals and criteria they were chosen for, a merit of democracy is that it allows the citizenry to punish these officials – not necessarily through extreme forms like impeachment, but perhaps by simply electing someone else in the forthcoming election. While, as previously addressed, not all participants in the election process vote based on truthful information, some citizens do. It must be remembered that not only those in authority

Politics in itself is a means to an end, in which case the end is the formation of a public policy. It is the process of trying to influence the decision makers in order to implement changes that will improve the lives of communities, populations and clients (Godfrey 84). In short, politics refers to

So which is it? Politics is the institutional framework where mankind's capacity to reason reconciles itself with its desires. This process that naturally goes on inside man's head is also a dialogue between men as soon as the capacity to communicate ideas is explored. Admitting that politics is natural however is merely a descriptive statement. The question I would bring up as I do in "Enchiridion" is what we should make of this nature. Saying that man is naturally political does not tell us whether

Through the study of human history it is evident authoritative and monarch governments prevailed as legitimate authorities but with careful considerations these political systems were seen as inaccurate by many. New political systems, functions and responsibilities soon began to surface. Democracy was among these new political systems and argues for the influence of citizens in politics and the protection of rights (Dahl, 1998, p. 44). Democracy can be found through many political systems around the world particularly in first world countries such as Canada and the United States of America. Fortunately the notions of democracy can also be found in some developing countries such as India. ¬¬¬Although democratic views and notions are found throughout Indian politics and its associated practices India does not prove to be completely democratic in relation to Robert Dahl’s criteria of democracy highlighted in his book, On Democracy. Robert Dahl, a political scientist and professor, sets up 5 criteria of democracy that includes effective participation, voting equality, enlightened understanding, inclusion and control of agenda (Dahl, 1998, p. 36-7). He argues that a sense of true democracy is founded when all 5 criteria of democracy are fulfilled (Dahl, 1998, p. 36). Unfortunately India is unable to accommodate the criteria of voting equality and effective participation due to its

Politics is about the distribution of power. In the Introduction to Social Science course guide it is stated that, “politics can be anywhere”. Therefore, politics is in the language we speak. Power is the “ ability to

Political science is the study of people’s behavior as it relates to control the public organizations. The concept is normally divided into six subcategories: Political philosophy- which deals with

During elections in countries with corrupt governments, for example, it has to be decided whether the guarantee of every individual’s right to vote or who wins is more important. (Wong, Lecture, October 24) Moreover, deep divides continue to exist and separate groups in democratic countries by race, religion, language, and class, resulting in tension and, in some cases, oppression. Thus democracy, despite its emphasis on liberty, equality and plurality, can still be problematic.

Political corruption is parasitic; it finds a host, and can almost always find a way to survive. Eventually, people grow dependent on this corruption as a means for income, thus forming a symbiosis between the people who benefit from it, and the elites that regulate it. People sometimes ignore the corruption surrounding them, feeling that as long as the politicians do their jobs well, their ‘extra salary’ can’t hurt (BNS).