`The authors succeed in presenting very detailed findings from a post-election study of the electorate using a theoretical approach that accounts for the most worrying phenomena in contemporary Indian politics' - John Hickman, Contemporary South Asia

Drawing on a 1996 nationwide post-election survey of 10,000 people, this book analyzes the process and progress of democratization in India. It begins with a discussion of some of the major schools of thought in the area of social change. This is followed by a description of the survey findings on how Indians view their state, how they judge those who govern them and how they understand their society. The authors provide an important analysis of the findings, providing answers to questions such as:

- are there generational differences in the views expressed?

- does the rhetoric of regionalization find resonance in the views of the people surveyed?

- is India truly a nation or merely an accidental geographical assemblage of separate communities?

Using innovative statistical analysis, the authors explore the relative success of Indian democracy in coping with the processes of modernization and social change.