IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/publus/v51y2021i2p161-185..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Building a National Economy: Origins of Centralized Federalism in India

Author

Listed:
  • Louise Tillin

Abstract

India’s post-colonial constitution introduced a new approach to federalism based on a substantial sphere of shared responsibility between Central and State governments, especially in the fields of social and economic policy, and a Central government with strong prerogatives to intervene in provincial affairs. This was qualified at the time as a diminished or “quasi” form of federalism. Existing explanations of the origins of India’s centralized federalism focus on efforts to curb further secession attempts in the aftermath of Partition or the need for a strong Center to consolidate democracy in a highly unequal society. This article draws on archival materials to demonstrate that distinctive elements of Indian federalism were shaped at their foundations by the desire to boost industrial development and lay the foundation for a national welfare state in a post-colonial future by preventing the consolidation of “race to the bottom” dynamics arising from unregulated inter-provincial economic competition.

Suggested Citation

  • Louise Tillin, 2021. "Building a National Economy: Origins of Centralized Federalism in India," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 51(2), pages 161-185.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:51:y:2021:i:2:p:161-185.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/publius/pjaa039
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anonymous, 1948. "International Labor Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 127-129, February.
    2. Ajay Kumar Singh, 2019. "Dynamic De/Centralization in India, 1950–2010," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 49(1), pages 112-137.
    3. Anonymous, 1948. "International Labor Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 530-532, September.
    4. Louise Tillin, 2015. "Explaining Territorial Change in Federal Democracies: A Comparative Historical Institutionalist Approach," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 63(3), pages 626-641, August.
    5. K. Sabeel Rahman & Kathleen Thelen, 2019. "The Rise of the Platform Business Model and the Transformation of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism," Politics & Society, , vol. 47(2), pages 177-204, June.
    6. Anonymous, 1948. "International Labor Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 359-360, June.
    7. Beramendi,Pablo, 2012. "The Political Geography of Inequality," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107008137, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David E. Balducchi & Christopher J. O'Leary, 2018. "The Employment Service-Unemployment Insurance Partnership: Origin, Evolutioin, and Revitalization," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Stephen A. Wandner (ed.),Unemployment Insurance Reform: Fixing a Broken System, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Yıldız-Geyhan, Eren & Altun-Çiftçioğlu, Gökçen Alev & Kadırgan, Mehmet Arif Neşet, 2017. "Social life cycle assessment of different packaging waste collection system," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-12.
    3. Mohamed Mousa & Walid Chaouali & Monowar Mahmood, 2023. "The Inclusion of Gig Employees and their Career Satisfaction: Do Individual and Collaborative Job Crafting Play a Role?," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1055-1068, September.
    4. Francesc Amat & Pablo Beramendi & Miriam Hortas-Rico & Vicente Rios, 2020. "How inequality shapes political participation: The role of spatial patterns of political competition," Working Papers. Collection B: Regional and sectoral economics 2002, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    5. Marta Arretche & Rogerio Schlegel & Diogo Ferrari, 2016. "Preferences Regarding the Vertical Distribution of Authority in Brazil: On Measurement and Determinants," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 46(1), pages 77-102.
    6. Bizuneh Yimenu, 2023. "Measuring and Explaining de facto Regional Policy Autonomy Variation in a Constitutionally Symmetrical Federation: The Case of Ethiopia, 1995–2020," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 53(2), pages 251-277.
    7. Coveri, Andrea & Cozza, Claudio & Guarascio, Dario, 2023. "Blurring boundaries: an analysis of the digital platforms-military nexus," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1364, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Dolata, Ulrich, 2023. "Industrieplattformen: Eine neue Form der Handlungskoordination in der Wirtschaft," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2024-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    9. Dolata, Ulrich & Schrape, Jan-Felix, 2022. "Platform architectures: The structuration of platform companies on the Internet," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2022-01, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    10. Grimshaw, Damian & Bertranou, Fabio & Gontero, Sonia & Urrutia, Antonia, 2024. "Negociación colectiva coordinada y multinivel: experiencias internacionales y opciones de políticas para Chile [Coordinated and multilevel collective bargaining: international experiences and polic," MPRA Paper 121701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Dolata, Ulrich, 2024. "Industry platforms: A new mode of coordination in the economy," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2024-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    12. Timo Seidl, 2022. "The politics of platform capitalism: A case study on the regulation of Uber in New York," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 357-374, April.
    13. Franziska Cooiman, 2024. "Imprinting the economy: The structural power of venture capital," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(2), pages 586-602, March.
    14. Pier Domenico Tortola, 2014. "The Limits of Normalization: Taking Stock of the EU‐US Comparative Literature," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(6), pages 1342-1357, November.
    15. Weisstanner, David, 2019. "Insiders under pressure: Flexible employment and wage inequality," INET Oxford Working Papers 2019-06, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    16. Marie Nilsen & Trond Kongsvik & Stian Antonsen, 2022. "Taming Proteus: Challenges for Risk Regulation of Powerful Digital Labor Platforms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-23, May.
    17. Niels van Doorn & Darsana Vijay, 2024. "Gig work as migrant work: The platformization of migration infrastructure," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(4), pages 1129-1149, June.
    18. Barry Eichengreen, 2023. "Financial regulation in the age of the platform economy," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(1), pages 40-50, March.
    19. Nguyen, Phong Thanh & Nguyen, Linh Thi My, 2022. "Understanding platform market value through decentralization governance — An integrative model from signaling and mechanism design theory," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    20. Walter Cont & Alberto Porto, 2016. "Fiscal Policy and Income Distribution: Measurement for Argentina 1995 ¨C 2010," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 6, pages 75-92, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:51:y:2021:i:2:p:161-185.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/publius .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.