![The Resistance has Just Begun](https://cdn.magzter.com/Outlook/1719468376/articles/H5BzXwU0o1719482030687/THE-RESISTANCE-HAS-JUST-BEGUN.jpg)
SEVEN decades ago, the eminent American political scientist, Professor Seymour Martin Lipset, published a seminal research paper, ‘Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy’ in the authoritative American Political Science Review in 1959. His thesis was that advanced levels of literacy, industrialisation and urbanisation were required for democracy to succeed. It became an influential argument in those contentious days of the Cold War, and provided the Western policy elite a rationalisation for Washington’s support and patronage for military regimes in various continents.
Indian voters had neither heard of nor cared for Lipset. They definitely proved the Harvard professor repeatedly wrong, but most emphatically in 1977. Nonetheless, the voters reserved their most resounding refutation for the Lipset thesis till 2024 as for the first time, democracy as an ideology triumphed over fancy notions of strong-leader-led-autocracy.
The last 10 years have seen a very determined ideological assault on the idea of democracy, anchored in constitutional legitimacy. A tiny elite—a dozen favoured business houses, a band of technocratic bureaucrats, and a corrupt and corrupting media mafia—had enlisted the upper castes and upper classes in a Project Limited Democracy to install an anti-people policy regime. The 2024 vote came down to whether the masses wanted to lend their imprimatur to an all-powerful, unaccountable, and omnipresent State, which provides a shield to the power-hungry elite to carry on its greedy business.
Bu hikaye Outlook dergisinin July 01, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Outlook dergisinin July 01, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
![Lost In The Rat Race](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/yQJj0cNnT1719485452859/crp_LOST-IN-THE-RAT-RACE.jpg)
Lost In The Rat Race
The NEET exam is mired in multiple controversies. Will this medical entrance exam fiasco discourage future aspirants?
![The Rise Of 'Ravan'](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/S92CRzy5e1719483315657/crp_THE-RISE-OF-RAVAN.jpg)
The Rise Of 'Ravan'
Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’, ‘The son of Saharanpur’, is raring to bring a new brand of Dalit-Bahujan politics to Parliament
![Unquiet Flows The Tawi](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/D2SdMTF5z1719484932978/UNQUIET-FLOWS-THE-TAWI.jpg)
Unquiet Flows The Tawi
The recent attack on a bus carrying pilgrims in Reasi district spotlights Jammu’s increased vulnerability to militancy
![Rebel With a Cause](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/x69LoYols1719484847404/REBEL-WITH-A-CAUSE.jpg)
Rebel With a Cause
Congress rebel candidate Vishal Patil fights as an independent, defeats the BJP candidate and sitting MP by over one lakh votes and rejoins the Congress
![Winds of Change](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/aBlTGEZqX1719484611586/WINDS-OF-CHANGE.jpg)
Winds of Change
Ethnic questions and local dynamics make the Bharatiya Janata Party lose ground in the Northeast
![The Giant Killer](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/agaasAgQw1719484501016/THE-GIANT-KILLER.jpg)
The Giant Killer
The election campaign of Geniben Thakor, the lone Congress MP from Gujarat, was as impressive as her victory
![Chak De Change](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/ABUTp_Ue_1719484341951/CHAK-DE-CHANGE.jpg)
Chak De Change
There is a new churning in Punjab politics and the Bharatiya Janata Party is diving in with an eye on the 2027 assembly election
![Minority Mantra](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/n8KSjk5nQ1719484223459/MINORITY-MANTRA.jpg)
Minority Mantra
The elevation of George Kurian, long serving Party functionary, to the Union cabinet is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ongoing “Christian project” in Kerala
![Art of the Possible](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/oi5xyy5HS1719484126421/ART-OF-THE-POSSIBLE.jpg)
Art of the Possible
Youngest Dalit MP Shambhavi Choudhary plans to focus on connectivity to schools, colleges and hospitals, women and jobs
![Red Revival](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/241/1747009/9mcw3ZvmQ1719483946473/RED-REVIVAL.jpg)
Red Revival
On his way to the hallowed chamber of Parliament, OBC leader Sudama Prasad defeated a BJP stalwart in Arrah and ensured CPI-ML’s entry into Parliament after more than three decades