Representation in the Shadow of Colonialism: Conceptions of Political Representation in 19th and 20th Century India

The starting point of this dissertation is the persistent political underrepresentation of Muslims in Indian legislatures since independence, and how this impugns Indian democracyâ s claim to be egalitarian and inclusive. The study argues that specific institutional arrangements for enhancing democratic representation of marginalized groups must be understood in their historical context. Therefore, this dissertation examines the debates over political representation in colonial India, and the terms of settlement in the Constituent Assembly of India, where group representation rights were acknowledged for certain groups but not for religious minorities. Mapping these debates, this work illustrates how the political sociology underlying constituency definition shifted over time and generated the contemporary structure of political exclusion for Muslims. Further, the specific history of political representation in India reveals its use for both non-democratic (representation for ruling or governance) and democratic (representation for self-rule or self-governance) purposes. This dissertation argues that Indian thinkersâ ideas of political representation bear a dual relationship to colonial thinking about representation as a tool for control and governance â a duality that engendered possibilities for an alternative version of liberalism in India. However, rather than fully institutionalize available alternatives to standard liberal ideas of political representation, the Constituent Assembly replicated colonial strategies and mechanisms. Through the historical reconstruction of arguments for group representation, I offer a normative defense for remedial measures to the problem of underrepresentation of Muslims in India and to move away from the shadow of colonialism on matters of political representation.Ph.D.2019-12-19 00:00:0