M. N. Roy and the Problem of Parliamentary Democracy.

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 00140360R Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1086-3222 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00225037 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Hist Ideas Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Baltimore, MD : Johns Hopkins University Press
Original Publication: Lancaster, Pa.

Democracy* ; Politics*; History, 20th Century ; India ; Colonialism/history ; Government/history ; History, 19th Century

This article offers a new interpretation of anti-colonial constitutional thought of the mid-twentieth century. Historians and political theorists have long viewed the circulation of democratic constitutions at the moment of decolonization in terms of the diffusion of electoral, parliamentary government. This article argues against such a "parliamentary" reading of anti-colonial democracy by examining the political thought of Indian Marxist thinker M. N. Roy (1887-1954). I reconstruct Roy's writings on anti-parliamentary forms of popular sovereignty through the 1940s. Further, I situate Roy's democratic theory as a response to understandings of political representation within the Indian national movement.

Date Created: 20240729 Date Completed: 20240729 Latest Revision: 20240729

20240729

10.1353/jhi.2024.a933860

39069909