Thursday Lecture Series: India Unveiled: Making Sense of India’s Political Landscape

In India’s 2024 national election, more than 30 political parties won seats in the country’s parliament, and today 15 different parties lead state-level governments. At the same time, India’s governing party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is often described as the country’s dominant political party.This presentation explains how we can make sense of a political landscape that is simultaneously dominated by one party and among the world’s most fragmented.

Adam Ziegfeld is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Temple University. He is the author of the 2016 book Why Regional Parties? Clientelism, Elites, and the Indian Party System, published by Cambridge University Press. In addition, he has published numerous journal articles on a range of topics related to elections in India. He received his PhD in Political Science from MIT.