Political mercenaries and citizen soldiers

Indian elite political culture presents a negative perception of political parties and party functionaries, yet parties are the life blood of democracies. In India they play a no less important role than in the older and well established democracies of the West.
Based on carefully collected data the authors of this book analyze why and how people join and work for different types of political parties. Among others they examine such questions as: What type of functions do the local party functionaries perform?; How much money do the local party organizations collect and how is this money spent?; What is the nature of generational
changes in the personnel of different parties? In addition to examining the socio-economic origins of party functionaries the authors present an in-depth analysis of their political attitudes and orientations, asserting that there is a need for a more realistic picture of grass root party organization. They find that although parties attract a substantial number of political mercenaries they also contain a significant number of dedicated citizen soldiers. Idealism co-exists with political opportunism. On the basis of an analysis of carefully collected data, and recognizing the pluralistic nature of Indian society, the federal structure ofthe polity,
and following a broad comparative approach, the authors find that Indian political parties have significant similarities with parties existing in the older, established, democracies of the West. Such similarities become all the more significant in the context of historically relevant stages of their economic and industrial development.
The book is the first study of its kind and makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the personnel and organization of India's major national political parties. Apart from scholars and specialists, it will be of great interest to intelligent general readers wanting to have a clearer picture of the grassroot functioning of democracy in India today.