Nicolas Martin is Associate Professor of Modern Indian/South Asian Studies and Deputy Director Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies at University of Zurich, Switzerland. He teaches courses focusing on political, economic and social transformation in South Asia. His research interests lie in electoral politics and welfare provision, debt and micro-credit, and social mobilization in South India.

• Acknowledgements; Introduction: Unpacking Punjab's Discontent; 1. Farmers and the Political Economy of Rent-Seeking; 2. Caste Dominance or Elite Factionalism?; 3. Panchayati Raj or Party Raj?; 4. Electoral Politics in Panchayat Raj Institutions; 5. Informality and Dispossession; 6. The Boundaries of Dalit Assertion; Conclusion: A Crisis of Governance; Bibliography; Index.

'This ethnographically rich book offers at once an insightful analysis of the crucial role of an elite of rich farmers from among Jat Sikhs in the social and economic crisis of Punjab, and shrewd critical commentary on key ideas in the political sociology of India. It is illuminating on the functioning of democratic decentralisation and on the ways in which elections may be manipulated, all in the interests of the elite, and at the expense of others and of the economy of the state. A tour de force.' John Harriss, Simon Fraser University