Winning elections is not everything, what is crucial for the good health of a robust democracy is forming a government. From strategically devised pre-poll alliances to hastily stitched together post-poll associations, noted journalist Sunita Aron has travelled the length and breadth of the country, painstakingly documenting the drama and dharma of coalition politics in India. The result of her exhaustive research and insightful analysis, Ballots and Breakups is a cracker of a read. As Indian voters deliver fractured verdicts, political parties resort to constructing fragile coalitions by hook or by crook. The hapless casualties of this relentless quest for power are the Indian voters and this book is for them, as the writer eloquently exhorts for the need of common guidelines on the formation of a government in the case of a hung house. A gripping take on coalition politics in India, Aron charts a riveting tale of modern Indian politics that has all the masala of a Bollywood potboiler, but the ending, the writer asserts, has to be happy like that of any Hindi film, 'stable governments and a prosperous society even in a hung house!'

Nine of India’s 14 prime ministers have been elected from constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state and most complex political battleground.The road to Delhi is said to go through Lucknow. Hence, elections in UP are among the most hotly debated and closely watched political contests in the nation. With the UP Legislative Assembly elections scheduled for the first quarter of 2022, UP Elections 2022: More Than a State at Stake raises the all-important question: who will emerge winner in UP in 2022? How will this victory impact the general elections in 2024? In the 2017 Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a massive win in UP, bagging 312 seats in the 403-seat Assembly. The Samajwadi Party (SP) won 47 seats and its ally, the Congress, only seven.The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ended up with 19 seats, its worst tally ever. In UP Elections 2022: More Than a State at Stake, well-known journalist and political commentator Anil Maheshwari analyses the caste and religious factors that colour electoral outcomes while taking a hard look at the political alliances gearing up to wrest power back from the BJP. Teeming with insightful predictions about the future of UP, and by extension, the nation, this book is a must-read for those who are invested in Indian democracy.

This book chronicles the final two decades in the history of the Soviet Union and presents a story that is often lost in the standard interpretations of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR. Although there were numerous reasons for the collapse of communism, it did not happen—as it may have seemed to some—overnight. Indeed, says Roman Szporluk, the root causes go back even earlier than 1917. To understand why the USSR broke up the way it did, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the two most important nations of the USSR—Russia and Ukraine—during the Soviet period and before, as well as the parallel but interrelated processes of nation formation in both states. Szporluk details a number of often-overlooked factors leading to the USSR's fall: how the processes of Russian identity formation were not completed by the time of the communist takeover in 1917, the unification of Ukraine in 1939–1945, and the Soviet period failing to find a resolution of the question of Russian-Ukrainian relations. The present-day conflict in the Caucasus, he asserts, is a sign that the problems of Russian identity remain.

This book demonstrates that nineteenth-century electoral politics were the product of institutions that prescribed how votes were cast and were converted into political offices.

An updated look at how corporate restructuring really works Stuart Gilson is one of the leading corporate restructuring experts in the United States, teaching thousands of students and consulting with numerous companies. Now, in the second edition of this bestselling book, Gilson returns to present new insight into corporate restructuring. Through real-world case studies that involve some of the most prominent restructurings of the last ten years, and highlighting the increased role of hedge funds in distressed investing, you'll develop a better sense of the restructuring process and how it can truly create value. In addition to "classic" buyout and structuring case studies, this second edition includes coverage of Delphi, General Motors, the Finova Group and Warren Buffett, Kmart and Sears, Adelphia Communications, Seagate Technology, Dupont-Conoco, and even the Eurotunnel debt restructuring. Covers corporate bankruptcy reorganization, debt workouts, "vulture" investing, equity spin-offs, asset divestitures, and much more Addresses the effect of employee layoffs and corporate downsizing Examines how companies allocate value and when a corporation should "pull the trigger" From hedge funds to financial fraud to subprime busts, this second edition offers a rare look at some of the most innovative and controversial restructurings ever.

Everybody falls in love once in a lifetime but not everybody is destined to have them. Saksham and Priya were one of the few lucky ones. They had their share of ups and downs through school till they reached the status of 'in a relationship' which takes them on a journey of commitment, long distance relationship, sacrifices, demands, expectations, fights, arguments and sex.

How reforms limiting electoral misconduct completed the process of democratization Between 1850 and 1918, many first-wave democracies in Europe adopted electoral reforms that reduced the incidence of electoral malfeasance. Drawing on analysis of parliamentary deliberations and roll-call votes in France, Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, Protecting the Ballot explores how these electoral changes came about. Reforms limiting electoral malfeasance came in a variety of forms. Some reforms imposed harsher punishments for bribing or the politicization of state resources during campaigns. Other changes improved electoral secrecy, providing better protection of voters’ autonomy. By mandating the presence of candidate representatives supervising electoral operations, reforms also reduced the incidence of electoral fraud. Isabela Mares documents how elite splits facilitated the formation of parliamentary majorities in support of electoral reforms. The political composition of these majorities varied across countries and across issue area, depending on the distribution of political resources and the economic and electoral costs incurred by politicians with opportunities to engage in malfeasance. Unpacking the electoral determinants of the demand for reforms, Mares offers an alternative to theories of democratization that emphasize economic considerations alone. By studying the successful adoption of reforms limiting electoral irregularities in first-wave democratic transitions, Protecting the Ballot sheds light on the opportunities and obstacles for ending electoral wrongdoing in recent democracies.

During the middle of the nineteenth century, Americans voted in saloons in the most derelict sections of great cities, in hamlets swarming with Union soldiers, or in wooden cabins so isolated that even neighbors had difficulty finding them. Their votes have come down to us as election returns reporting tens of millions of officially sanctioned democratic acts. Neatly arrayed in columns by office, candidate, and party, these returns are routinely interpreted as reflections of the preferences of individual voters and thus seem to unambiguously document the existence of a robust democratic ethos. By carefully examining political activity in and around the polling place, this book suggests some important caveats which must attend this conclusion. These caveats, in turn, help to bridge the interpretive chasm now separating ethno-cultural descriptions of popular politics from political economic analyses of state and national policy-making.