Nation Building through constitutionalism: lessons from the Indian Experience

The institutional experience of the Indian Union is quite underestimated by European legal scholars both in constitutional and globalization studies. Today it appears necessary and stimulating to assess the state of Indian constitutional democracy. A first set of considerations will concern the relation between state building and constitutional democracy. After independence India managed to establish a durable state not through coercion or authoritarian routines but through democratic practices. In India the vibrant pluralism of the party system has guaranteed a rich political debate and the representation of wide range of social groups, from linguistic and religious communities to backward social groups. This plethora of parties has not determined government instability on the contrary it has ensured government alternatives. The second pillar of the Indian constitution is its federal system displaying very peculiar features. In this paper I will underline the successful policy of inclusion of cultural identities through the creation of the so – called “linguistic states”. In 60 years of institutional experience, India has nearly doubled the number of states in the attempt of reducing conflicts between regional and ethnical groups and the state, with very good results. This policy has not undermined the consolidation of an Indian identity; on the contrary it has consolidated it, as showed by recent studies (Stepan – Linz – Yadav). A third subject needing more reflection is the constitutional reform of local self – government occurred in the Nineties that have led to the “institutionalization” of rural India and its villages, through a political language more in tune with local traditions and capable to stimulate grassroots democracy in contrast with the élite democracy typical of the first phase of state building in India. In this paper I will try to underline the original approach of the Indian constitution in building a democratic state not through a mere reproduction of the schemes of western constitutionalism but adapting them to the Indian reality to create what is proudly considered by the majority of Indian scholars as a “beautiful patchwork