Why Regional Parties? Clientelism, Elites, and the Indian Party System

CASI Seminar
Adam Ziegfeld
Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, The George Washington University
Center for the Advanced Study of India
3600 Market Street, Suite 560 (5th floor)
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

About the Speaker:
Adam Ziegfeld is the International Council Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University. His research focuses on political parties and elections, primarily in India. He is the author of Why Regional Parties? Clientelism,Elites, and the Indian Party System (Cambridge University Press, 2016). His research on dominant political parties, coalition politics, and electoral rules has been published in a variety of journals including Comparative Politics, Electoral Studies, and Party Politics. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About the Lecture:
Today, regional parties in India win nearly as many votes as national parties. In Why Regional Parties? Adam Ziegfeld questions the conventional wisdom that regional parties in India are electorally successful because they harness popular grievances and benefit from strong regional identities. Rather, in democracies where patronage, vote buying, and electoral handouts are common, regional parties are successful because they represent expedient options for office-seeking politicians. 

[Event Flyer]

The Nand & Jeet Khemka Distinguished Lecture Series is an endowed public program of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI). Launched in the 2007-08 academic year, and made possible through the generous support of the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, the series brings renowned India specialists to the Penn community and serves as a critical forum for analyzing and understanding the complex economic, political, social, and cultural changes that the world’s largest democracy is experiencing, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.
The Saluja Global Fellows Program has been made possible by the generous gift from Vishal Saluja ENG’89 W’89. CASI was excited to launch the program during the 2022–23 academic year, coinciding with the Center’s 30th Anniversary. This new program enables CASI to invite eminent leaders and rising experts on contemporary India preferably from the fields of media, culture, law, and contemporary history to be in residence for one to two weeks at CASI.