Intergovernmental relations and the territorial management of ethnic diversity in India

Abstract

This article examines how and to what extent ethnic diversity underpinned intergovernmental relations (IGR) in deeply divided societies like India. Central to this is the vertical and intermediating roles of political actors, structures and processes of Indian federalism in defining the ways in which ethnic diversity is territorially managed. Unlike Canada or Belgium which have more formal and robust structures of IGR, the inconsequential roles of formal structures of IGR in India unduly leverage centralizing actors, structures and processes in the territorial management of ethnic diversity. Given that these centralizing actors, structures and processes are contingent on political expediency, the dynamic ideas, interests and strategies of centralizing and regionalist actors are particularly salient in defining not only the contours and outcomes of IGRs but also the ways in which “unity in diversity” are negotiated and balanced within the overarching framework of “self-rule and shared rule.”.