Urbanization and the Rise of the Right in India

• In Event: Elections, Party Systems, and Representation in India

Abstract

What explains the rise of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India? To explore this question, this paper digitizes and geocodes polling station-level data for the 2014 and 2019 elections and links this to satellite imagery on land usage patterns and change. Inductive analysis of the data using tools from deep learning suggest that the BJP's rise has in part been fueled by long-term urban expansion. The findings challenge long-held tenets of modernization theory and reveal how urbanization can go hand in hand with an intensification of religious nationalism and backlash against liberal democracy.

Author

• Aditya Dasgupta, University of California, Merced