डॉ. बी. आर. अम्बेडकर विश्‍वविद्यालय दिल्ली
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi
Established by The Government of NCT of Delhi

Course coordinator and team: 

Summary: As per the BA-GS concept note, UG courses in the SGA adopt the following norm with regards to 100 level courses: 100 level courses, with a focus on events, people and places, will aim to develop students’ reading, writing and presentation skills. In that regard this is a 100 level course. The event of this course is the election: regional (within nations) and national (around the globe).

1. This non-major course will engage early career undergraduate students in explore a range of issues related to their newly acquired legal right to participate in the democratic process by casting their vote. While taking a historico-spatial approach, a key pedagogical feature of this course is that in each semester the class will focus on following a live regional or national election happening somewhere in the world.
2. Objectives: To not diminish the students’ interest in learning.
3. Overall structure: The course is divided into 3 Units: 1) “Histories as Theories”, 2) Exclusions and Innovations” and 3) “Experiences and Practices”, each occupying 4 weeks of the teaching semester.
4. Contents (brief note on each module; indicative reading list with core and supplementary readings): 

​​​​​​​The course is organised as follows.

Modules/Units	Themes	Materials	Weeks
Introduction	Why study electoral systems?	See below	1
1	Histories as Theories of ES	See below	4
2	Exclusions to and Innovations in ES	See below	4
3	Experiences and Practices of ES	See below	4

1. 1. Introduction:

Elections are a recent historical phenomenon. Furthermore, they are by definition events of contestation. That contestation has recently extended to include sophisticated assaults on electoral processes around the globe. Elections also represent one of those moments when Benedict Anderson’s imagined community becomes real and offers an opportunity to make the distinction between being a nationalist versus a patriot. The decisions that citizens make with regards to how they vote have profound consequences not only for individual lives but on the quality of life of the collective in which they live in the present and for the future. This course is conceived of to prepare students to engage in informed debates about these big decisions. A poster making workshop on the theme of ‘nationalism versus patriotism’ may work well in this introduction to the course. Introductory materials will be drawn from such materials as: 

1. Stéphanie Tawa Lama-Rewal,  “Studying Elections in India: Scientific and Political Debates”. South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal [Online], 3 | 2009. DOI : 10.4000/samaj.2784
2. Overseas Development Institute (ODI):
   1. Report covering some key components of the study of representative democracies: Alina Rocha Menocal, “Emerging democracies: Rising to the challenge. ODI, November 2013. At: https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8699.pdf and “Why elections matter: assessing the quality of governance in emerging democracies”, at: https://www.odi.org/projects/2757-why-elections-matter-assessing-quality-governance-emerging-democracies
3. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso, 1983.
4. Entry on ‘Nationalism and Patriotism’ in John M. Levine, Michael A. Hogg, editors, Encyclopedia of group processes and intergroup relations. SAGE Publications, 2010.
5. Rohit Bhattacharya, “12 Hard-Hitting Posters That Show How Patriotism & Nationalism Are Two Very Different Things”. July 12, 2017. at: https://www.scoopwhoop.com/difference-in-nationalism-patriotism/#.sms53v319
   2.  Module I: Histories as Theories of Electoral Systems. - 4 weeks

         This Module takes a global comparative approach to explore the emergence the most common systems such as: first-past-the-post voting, the two-round (runoff) system, proportional representation and ranked or preferential voting. Key moments in the histories of the formation of democracies, constitutions and forms of government, contextualising them in time and space and the peoples’ movements associated with their development. This unit will end with an in-class test and materials will be drawn from but not restricted to:

  Unit Materials:

1. 2. 1. Wikipedia ‘Electoral System’ page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_system and ‘List of Forms of Government’ page.
      2. Anthony Arblaster, Concepts in Social Sciences: Democracy. “Introduction” and Chapter 1 on History. Open University Press, 2002.
      3. David Held, Models of Democracy. Polity Press, 2006
   3. Module II: Exclusions and Innovations. - 4 weeks

         This unit looks at the historical exclusions and the processes and movements towards the inclusion of these exceptions within electoral systems. For instance, themes such as the amendments and other innovations to electoral systems that led to the granting of the franchise to non-whites, women, ex-colonies will be studied. Similarly, the emergence of ballot options such as NOTA, use of the EVM and gerrymandering will be covered. Finally, this unit will considered challenges posed to the electoral system by ‘corruption’, Aboriginal sovereignty, statelessness, homelessness and mobility/migrations. The transaction of the module would involve group discussions and guided reading sessions besides lectures. It will end with an in-class test. Materials will be drawn from but not restricted to:

  Unit Materials:

1. 3. 4. Encyclopedia entry dealing with Exclusions from Suffrage - https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/political-science-and-government/political-science-terms-and-concepts/voting-rights
      5. VR Vachana, Maya Roy, “NOTA and the Indian Voter”. Economic and Political Weekly,  Vol.53, Issue No.6, 10 Feb. 2018.
      6. Garima Goel, “Patterns of NOTA Voting in India: Voting from the Margins”. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.53, Issue No. 33, 18 August, 2018.
      7.  K Ashok Vardhan Shetty, “Making Electronic Voting Machines Tamper Proof: Some Administrative and Technical Suggestions”, Policy Watch No. 6, Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, 2018.
      8.  Jagdeep S. Chhokar, “Simultaneous Elections: Striking at the Roots of Parliamentary Democracy”, Issue Brief No. 8, a Joint publication by The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy and Association for Democratic Reforms.
      9. “Gerrymandering.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/gerrymandering
      10. Kanika Gauba, Anshuman Singh "Voter, Citizen, Enemy”, Commentary, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 52, Issue No. 23, 10 June 2017.
      11. Mudit Kapoor, Shamika Ravi, “A Silent Revolution: Women Voters in Indian Democracy”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 49, Issue No. 12, 22 March 2014.
   4. Module III: Experiences and Practices of ES. - 4 weeks

         Drawing on the above two modules, the emphasis in this final module will be on guiding students as they study and situate the specific election being studied in that semester within both its national and global contexts. Students will be expected to carry out simple analyses of key issues related to the electoral process such as, policies, media coverage, campaign rules, concerned institutions (elections commissions), resources (internet) and Workshops in this module may be on skill development tools such as mathematics for elections, economics and policy, decoding media, social movements. This Unit will be heavily weighted towards group activities, workshops and field visits, that focus on the election being studied in the given semester, in the case of WS2019, that will be the Indian General Elections scheduled to be held in April or May of 2019. The unit will end with the submission of the Group Reports (see below). Materials will be drawn from but not restricted to:

  Unit Materials:

1. 1. 12.  Pradeep K. Chhibber (Author), Rahul Verma (Author), Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India. Oxford University Press, 2018. These scholars have a number of articles published in newspapers that will make the issues concerned easily accessible to first year students. We also anticipate inviting Rahul Verma to conduct discussion workshops with our students.
      13.  Articles from Newspapers and undergraduate friendly journals such as EPW. For instance there is no dearth of materials in EPW for students to utilise to compare the present elections with those of the past. For instance, the recent EPW Engage report on “How Does India Vote? A Short Reading List”, where they have “curated articles that present a picture of how electoral democracy operates for various communities, spaces and states [in India].” Economic and Political Weekly, EPW ENGAGE, ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Assessment structure (modes and frequency of assessments): 1) Group Presentation(s) - PPTs by two groups per Module  (40%); 2) two in-class test(s) (15% each for a total of 30%); 3) Group Reports - prepare a Report on the election under study during that semester that aspires to a quality that it can be submitted to the country or region’s Election Commission - (30%). The in-class tests will be based on the materials covered in the respective module