Elite Parties, Poor Voters

How Social Services Win Votes in India

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, Economic Conditions, History & Theory
Cover of the book Elite Parties, Poor Voters by Tariq Thachil, Cambridge University Press
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Author: Tariq Thachil ISBN: 9781316164075
Publisher: Cambridge University Press Publication: November 17, 2014
Imprint: Cambridge University Press Language: English
Author: Tariq Thachil
ISBN: 9781316164075
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication: November 17, 2014
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Language: English

Why do poor people often vote against their material interests? This puzzle has been famously studied within wealthy Western democracies, yet the fact that the poor voter paradox also routinely manifests within poor countries has remained unexplored. This book studies how this paradox emerged in India, the world's largest democracy. Tariq Thachil shows how arguments from studies of wealthy democracies (such as moral values voting) and the global south (such as patronage or ethnic appeals) cannot explain why poor voters in poor countries support parties that represent elite policy interests. He instead draws on extensive survey data and fieldwork to document a novel strategy through which elite parties can recruit the poor, while retaining the rich. He shows how these parties can win over disadvantaged voters by privately providing them with basic social services via grassroots affiliates. Such outsourcing permits the party itself to continue to represent the policy interests of their privileged base.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Why do poor people often vote against their material interests? This puzzle has been famously studied within wealthy Western democracies, yet the fact that the poor voter paradox also routinely manifests within poor countries has remained unexplored. This book studies how this paradox emerged in India, the world's largest democracy. Tariq Thachil shows how arguments from studies of wealthy democracies (such as moral values voting) and the global south (such as patronage or ethnic appeals) cannot explain why poor voters in poor countries support parties that represent elite policy interests. He instead draws on extensive survey data and fieldwork to document a novel strategy through which elite parties can recruit the poor, while retaining the rich. He shows how these parties can win over disadvantaged voters by privately providing them with basic social services via grassroots affiliates. Such outsourcing permits the party itself to continue to represent the policy interests of their privileged base.

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