Working a democratic constitution : a history of the Indian experience
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Working a democratic constitution : a history of the Indian experience
（Oxford India paperbacks）
Oxford University Press, 2003
- : pbk
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"Oxford India Paperbacks 2003"--T.p. verso
Bibliography: [670]-698
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Working a Democratic Constitution tells a very human story of how the social, political and day-to-day lived realities of the Indian people has been reflected in, and in turn directed the course of, constitutional reforms in the country. Through the post independence euphoria to the turbulent years of Indira Gandhi's 'Emergency' and Rajiv Gandhi's brief period of power, the way in which the constitution has evolved to suit the changing needs of the times is
an important indicator of India's successful experience with democracy.
Granville Austin is one of the world's leading experts on the Indian constitution. Since his classic work The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation (OUP, 1966), he has been working on this long-awaited book, which not only presents archival sources, but also first-hand interviews with and rare documentation by many of the key political and legal figures of the last fifty years. With its wide historical sweep, and meticulously detailed research, this is Austin's magnum opus
described by Fali Nariman as a 'great and compassionate work'.
The clarity and elegance of Austin's writing makes this book not only a necessary but a pleasurable read for anyone interested in comparative constitutional law and the recent political history of India, and for students, teachers and researchers of the subject.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Prologue
- Part I: The Great Constitutional Themes Emerge, 1950-66
- 1. Settling into harness
- 2. Free Speech, Liberty, and Public Order
- 3. The Social Revolution and the First Amendment
- 4. The Rights and the Revolution: More Property Amendments
- 5. The Judiciary: 'Quite Untouchable'
- 6. Making and Preserving a Nation
- Part II: The Great Constitutional Confrontation: Judicial versus Parliamentary Supremacy, 1967-73
- 7. Indira Gandhi: In Context and in Power
- 8. The Golak Nath Inheritance
- 9. Two Catalytic Defeats
- 10. Radical Constitutional Amendments
- 11. Redeeming The Web: The Kesavananda Bharati Case
- 12. A 'Grievous Blow': the Supersession of Judges
- Part III: Democracy Rescued or the Constitution Subverted?: The Emergency and the Forty-Second Amendment, 1975-77
- 13. 26 June, 1975
- 14. Closing the Circle
- 15. The Judiciary under Pressure
- 16. Preparing for Constitutional Change
- 17. The forty-second Amendment: Sacrificing Democracy to Power
- Part IV: The Janata Interlude
- 18. Janata forms Government
- 19. Restoring Federal Governance
- 20. Governing under the Constitution
- 21. The Punishment that Failed
- 22. A Government Dies
- Part V: Indira Gandhi Returns
- 23. Ghosts of Governments Past
- 24. The Constitution Strengthened and Weakened
- 25. Judicial Reform or Harassment
- 26. The Villain in Federal Relations
- Part VI: The Inseparable Twins: National Unity and Integrity and the Machinery of Federal Relations
- 27. Terminology and its merits
- 28. The Governors' acutely conscious role
- 29. New Delhi Long Hour
- 30. Constitutional Mechanisms how 'Federal'
- Part VII: Conclusion
- 31. A Nation's progress
- Bibliography
- Index
by "Nielsen BookData"
