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A Federation of Equals? Bringing the Princely States into Unified India

Svensson, Ted LU (2016) In STANCE Working Paper Series 2016(9).
Abstract
The paper explores perceptions during the early 20th century regarding the required and desired underpinnings of a post-imperial India—i.e. one in which both British India and the indirectly ruled Princely States were first, by the British, proposed and then, through the work of the Indian Constituent Assembly, made to constitute a federation. At the heart of the paper resides a query regarding India’s federal origins—i.e. what enabled the push towards federalism and what was it foremost an answer to—as well as an ambition to relate to India as an exemplary rather than unique case when we address the manner in which notions of proper and full-fledged stateness or statehood developed. While the former is intended as an engagement with... (More)
The paper explores perceptions during the early 20th century regarding the required and desired underpinnings of a post-imperial India—i.e. one in which both British India and the indirectly ruled Princely States were first, by the British, proposed and then, through the work of the Indian Constituent Assembly, made to constitute a federation. At the heart of the paper resides a query regarding India’s federal origins—i.e. what enabled the push towards federalism and what was it foremost an answer to—as well as an ambition to relate to India as an exemplary rather than unique case when we address the manner in which notions of proper and full-fledged stateness or statehood developed. While the former is intended as an engagement with India’s many-layered constituent moment—one in which a ‘lapse of paramountcy’ and decolonisation were concurrent both with the partitioning of British India into two nation states and a cessation of Princely rule—the latter tries to rectify the regrettable omission of India in studies on the long-term effects of varying models of direct and indirect imperial rule. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
India, 20th century, post-imperial, British India, Princely States, indirect rule, Indian Constituent Assembly, federation, federal origins, stateness, constitutent moment, decolonisation, direct imperial rule
in
STANCE Working Paper Series
volume
2016
issue
9
pages
22 pages
publisher
Department of Political Science, Lund University
project
State-Making and the Origins of Global Order in the Long Nineteenth Century and Beyond
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a1f5d6e6-a174-4410-9ae9-832b33dbf9be
date added to LUP
2016-07-08 17:47:49
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:24:51
@misc{a1f5d6e6-a174-4410-9ae9-832b33dbf9be,
  abstract     = {{The paper explores perceptions during the early 20th century regarding the required and desired underpinnings of a post-imperial India—i.e. one in which both British India and the indirectly ruled Princely States were first, by the British, proposed and then, through the work of the Indian Constituent Assembly, made to constitute a federation. At the heart of the paper resides a query regarding India’s federal origins—i.e. what enabled the push towards federalism and what was it foremost an answer to—as well as an ambition to relate to India as an exemplary rather than unique case when we address the manner in which notions of proper and full-fledged stateness or statehood developed. While the former is intended as an engagement with India’s many-layered constituent moment—one in which a ‘lapse of paramountcy’ and decolonisation were concurrent both with the partitioning of British India into two nation states and a cessation of Princely rule—the latter tries to rectify the regrettable omission of India in studies on the long-term effects of varying models of direct and indirect imperial rule.}},
  author       = {{Svensson, Ted}},
  keywords     = {{India; 20th century; post-imperial; British India; Princely States; indirect rule; Indian Constituent Assembly; federation; federal origins; stateness; constitutent moment; decolonisation; direct imperial rule}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{9}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Political Science, Lund University}},
  series       = {{STANCE Working Paper Series}},
  title        = {{A Federation of Equals? Bringing the Princely States into Unified India}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/10948638/2016_9_Svensson.pdf}},
  volume       = {{2016}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}