Provincial Democracy: Political Imaginaries at the End of Empire in Twentieth-Century South India [Hardcover]

Argues for a nuanced understanding of regionalism in India shaped by debates over representation, rights, political reforms and federalism.Tracks the history of democracy as it began to establish roots at the height of anticolonial nationalism in British India through calls for self-determination, federation proposals and the demand for civil liberties which profoundly shaped democratic culture and regionalism.Tracks the history of democracy as it began to establish roots at the height of anticolonial nationalism in British India through calls for self-determination, federation proposals and the demand for civil liberties which profoundly shaped democratic culture and regionalism.Situated within the context of seismic global transformations of the early twentieth centurynamely the two World Wars and the crisis of the imperial orderProvincial Democracy delves into the period between the decline of empire and the rise of the nation. This period, the book contends, is defined by not only the dominance of the nation state and debates over a new global order, but also the expansion of democratic participation in defining and negotiating political futures and an increased use of the language of liberalism, political rights, and self-government in colonial India. Moreover, it shifts the focus from the dominant narrative of linguistic nationalism as defining regionalism on to debates over questions of representation, rights, political reforms, and federalism. Thus, it uncovers a broad perspective on political imaginaries that anticipated democracy in independent India.Acknowledgements; Introduction: Self-determination, Federation and Civil Liberties in Twentieth-Century South India; 1. Liberalism and Anticolonial Politics in South India; Part I. Federation: 2. Self-Determination, Federation and the Provinces; 3. Princely Hyderabad, Anticolonialism and Federation; Part II. Civil Liberties: 4. Publicity, civil liberties and political life in Princely Hyderabad; 5. The Breakl3U