How do people organize themselves into political communities?

• India’s 2014 parliamentary elections marked a historic shift in political power.
• Indian National Congress (INC) dominated politics since independence in 1947.
• INC had an ideology of secularism and was inclusive of all religious and ethnic groups.
• Telangana was created in 2014 from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh, raising questions about India’s management of diverse identities.
• Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956 from the areas of Andhra and Telangana to consolidate Telugu culture and language.
• However, the creation of Andhra Pradesh led to a sense of marginalization in Telangana due to political and economic power being monopolized by elites from Andhra.
• The feeling of “internal colonialism” led to demands for separation.
• Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), a new political party, grew in power by the early 2000s, along with regular mass protests.
• In February 2014, the Lok Sabha voted to create Telangana, marking the culmination of years of unrest.
• The creation of Telangana led to violent clashes between supporters and opponents of separation.
• The separation included Hyderabad, a wealthy and significant economic center, which remains a shared capital for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh until 2025.
• Issues of dividing assets like educational institutions will create long-term tensions between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
• The creation of Telangana raises concerns about ethnic fragmentation in India, with other groups potentially seeking their own states.
• Some argue such devolution could accommodate population growth and diverse regional, ethnic, and religious identities.
• The events in 2014 also led to a dramatic political shift at the national level with the BJP gaining power, moving from 116 to 282 seats in the Lok Sabha.
• The BJP ran on a platform of economic growth, anticorruption, and emphasizing Hindu religious and national identity.
• Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) raises concerns about potential ethnic and religious conflicts.
• The year 2014 also saw a shift in India’s federal structure, with the creation of a new state and a change in government.
• Society is defined by complex human organizations, and how individuals define themselves varies across countries.
• Different societies view themselves in unique ways, which makes comparative politics rich but frustrating for scholars.
• People identify themselves through concepts like ethnic identity and national identity.
• The difference between ethnicity and nationality lies in the way groups define themselves.
• Citizenship is another aspect of identity distinct from ethnicity or nationality.
• Nationalism and patriotism are distinguished in terms of loyalty to the nation versus to the state or government.
• Violent conflicts often arise from ethnic and nationalist identities.
• The causes of such conflicts are debated: whether they are natural or politically manufactured.
• Political attitudes and ideologies shape individuals’ positions on freedom and equality.
• While there are only a few basic political ideologies, their influence varies significantly across countries.
• Social scientists debate whether identities like ethnicity, nationality, and ideology are social constructions or rooted in biological functions.
• Evolutionary psychology suggests that humans have an instinct to sort groups based on kin recognition and genetic similarity.
• There’s skepticism that ethnicity or nationalism will fade, as collective identities remain central to human organization.

Ethnic Identity

• People identify themselves in many ways, one of which is through ethnicity.
• Ethnic identity refers to a person’s connection to other members of society based on shared attributes.
• Ethnic identity is built on institutions that bind people together through common culture, including language, religion, geography, customs, appearance, and history.
• The process of forming ethnic identity is called ascription, where a particular identity is assigned at birth.
• People do not choose their ethnicities; they are born into them, and ethnic identity remains largely stable throughout life.
• The boundaries between ethnic groups can be blurry, as seen in Telangana.
• Ethnicity provides social solidarity and can promote greater equality within the group.
• Groups with strong ethnic solidarity may be more willing to redistribute resources within the group but less willing to share with ethnically different groups.
• Research focuses on the relationship between trust, inequality, and ethnic diversity.
• Each ethnic group is characterized by institutions embodying norms and behaviors, and societies can be made up of many ethnic groups.
• For example, Singaporean society consists of ethnic Chinese, Malays, and Indians.
• Most countries are not ethnically homogeneous; societies are often made up of multiple ethnic groups, as in India.
• Ethnicity is primarily a social identity, not inherently political.
• People may identify with an ethnic group without drawing political conclusions based on that identity.
• There is no fixed list of differences that define ethnic groups; the factors that distinguish one group from another can vary.
• In Bosnia, ethnic groups like Croats, Serbs, and Muslims share many similarities (e.g., language) but are divided mainly by religion.
• In Germany, ethnic divisions based on religion (Catholic vs. Protestant) do not create different ethnic groups.
• In Rwanda, the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups are hard to distinguish based on factors like language, religion, or customs.
• Despite this, ethnic conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi in the 1990s led to mass killings.
• Rwanda demonstrates that even when distinctions are unclear, ascriptive identities can have significant and destructive effects.