The Case of Indian Muslims in Comparative Perspective
A paper comparing the representation of dispersed minorities, that is, those that are so distributed as to be in a minority in most parliamentary constituencies, in single-member constituency, first-past-the-post electoral systems, is being undertaken. The focus is on Muslims in India and comparative reference groups are Indians in Malaysia, African-Americans in US House of Representatives elections and Hindus in Bangladesh. Representation is being linked to the existence of prior political cleavages, the nature of parties and party system in terms of the norms of inclusiveness, and the estimated percentages of the minority at the constituency level. Undertaken in collaboraton with Adnan Farooqui, Jamia Millia Islamia University.