How Solidarity Works for Welfare

Prerna Singh is the Mahatma Gandhi Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Brown University, Rhode Island where she is also a faculty fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Prior to joining Brown, she taught in the Department of Government at Harvard University, Massachusetts. Singh has received numerous fellowships from the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, the Center for Advanced Study for India (CASI) at the University of Pennsylvania, and the American Institute of Indian Studies. Her articles have been published in several journals, including World Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, World Development, and Studies in Comparative International Development. Singh is the co-editor of Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics (2013).

• List of figures and tables; Acknowledgments; 1. Subnationalism and social development: an introduction; 2. How solidarity works for welfare: the subnationalist motivation for social development; 3. The origins of the differential strength of subnationalism; 4. How subnationalism promotes social development; 5. How absence of subnationalism impedes social development; 6. Subnationalism and social development across Indian states; 7. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

'This is a magisterial book that takes on one of the most important questions of all time - why do some places develop more inclusive welfare regimes and deliver better social outcomes than others? Singh highlights the role of communal cohesion and shared affective bonds in producing the sense of mutual obligation that is at the root of progressive, redistributive policies. Along the way, Singh carefully shows where existing explanations fail to explain the puzzle of subnational variation in Indian social policies and development and takes the reader on a theoretically informed and empirically rich journey through parts of India from the late-nineteenth century onwards. The book is both a joy to read and is based on a rigorous combination of qualitative and quantitative research.' Melani Cammett, Harvard University, Massachusetts