Changing political field structure and modulations in democarcy consolidation: India, 1947-1984

In my research, I have empirically developed a theory regarding the relations among political structure, elite agency and democratization processes that overcomes the political structure/elite agency duality currently plaguing democracy consolidation studies. Using Bourdieu's insights on the structure/agency relation to empirically examine the Nehruvian (1947-71) and Gandhian (1971-77) periods of Indian democracy, I show that the elite's role in democratization processes is shaped by their political habitus, which in turn is structured by historically specific political structures. Furthermore, neither the elite's political habitus nor the political structures that influence it are immune to change. Political structures are shaped by intraparty conflicts among the elite to establish their political authority. Since political structures change because of the changing state of conflict among the political elite, the milieu in which the elite's political habitus is conditioned also changes. In the changing political milieu, the existent elite's political sensibilities are reconfigured, and the sensibilities of the new generation of political elite, who have differing interests in democratization processes, become mature. I have developed my theory by extensively studying the writings (letters, articles, party reports, etc.) and biographies of late colonial and early postcolonial political elites, as well as by compiling an original dataset of all 4,000 parliamentarians elected to the seven parliamentary sessions held during the 1947-84 period. I personally computerized this dataset by drawing information from the Data Handbook on Elections in India and Who's Who of the Indian Parliament. I have used network analysis methods and logistic regression modeling, as well as content analysis of the political elite's writings and biographies, to illustrate the consequences for Indian democracy because of the changing relation between political structures and the political elite's habitus.