Thanks to its emerging markets, nuclearization and the internet revolution, South Asia is increasingly at the forefront of current affairs. This invaluable reference source seeks to make the region accessible to business travellers as well as to the general reader. The range of subjects to be covered includes major political processes and events of South Asia (elections and electoral politics, political slang, political parties, diplomacy and territorial divisions), domestic and foreign policy, key personalities, political and economic institutions, sub-national groupings and units (regions, cities, provinces and rural entities), ethnicity and identity, and legal systems (laws and court cases).
Key features:
* Terms, which are frequently misunderstood in the political and economic processes of South Asia, are explained clearly and succinctly
* More than 1,000 entries, covering the key debates, issues, concepts and institutions.
Entries include:
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Caste System, Corruption, dalits, Electoral System, Federalism, Hindu-Muslim relation, India-US Relation, Kashmir, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Nuclearization, Privatization, Reserve Bank of India, Sikh, Untouchability, Urbanization, Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Countries covered in this volume include:
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Subrata K. Mitra is Professor and Head, Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. He was Executive Director of the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg (2002-04), and President of the Research Committee on Political Sociology of the International Political Science Association and the International Sociological Association (2002-06). Professor Mitra has been a consultant to several national and international organizations, including UNESCO, the French Institute for Public Opinion (Paris) and the European Union. His previous publications include The Puzzle of India's Governance (Routledge, 2006), Democracy and Social Change and Culture and Rationality (both Sage, 1999) and Power, Protest and Participation (Routledge, 1992)
Siegfried O. Wolf specializes in Comparative Politics and Political Theory. He is a Lecturer in Political Science at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg. Before starting his academic career, Siegfried Wolf had a two-year apprenticeship at one of Germany's most established financial groups and has since worked for various consultancies specializing in political communication world-wide. He has conducted fieldwork in South Asia for his research in affiliation with the Centre de Sciences Humaines located in New Delhi. In addition, he is Deputy Editor and Managing Editor of the Heidelberg Papers in South Asian Comparative Politics.
Jivanta Schöttli is Lecturer in International and Comparative Politics in the Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg. A graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, she holds degrees in international relations and history, and economic history. Having lived and worked in Asian capital cities and studied links between India and Japan and India and China, her research currently focuses on the institutionalization of politics in India since independence in 1947.
