Introduction

Now that ‘the end of history’ (Fukuyama 1992) has become a popular proclamation, and many political observers – in the name of good governance – are talking about multi-party democracy as some sort of remedy for the consolidation of nascent democracies in developing countries, almost nobody seems to remember the disastrous results that multi-party democracy has had for most of these countries after independence. One-party-dominance has nearly turned into a four-letter word, associated with creeping authoritarianism and the traumatic mental legacies of several quasi-dictatorial single-party states. India, nevertheless, was able to combine one-party-dominance with many features of a liberal democracy and remains a vibrant representative of its sort. In doing so, it has set itself apart amongst post-colonial states.