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PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

“The Indian party system is shaped by a complex interaction of the country’s federal structure, electoral system and social cleavages.” Explain.

  • UPSC 2021
  • 20 marks
  • Party System

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Party systems are usually explained either institutionally, as with Maurice Duverger (Political Parties, 1951) on electoral rules, or sociologically, as with Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan on "frozen" cleavages. India has one of the most fragmented party systems under first-past-the-post, and neither approach explains it alone. The outcome depends on how the electoral system,…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • 1. The electoral system: Duverger at the constituency level
  • 2. Federal structure: the prize and the arena
  • 3. Social cleavages: many and cross-cutting
  • The interaction
  • Limits of the structural view
  • Conclusion
PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

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