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When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics Hardcover – January 24, 2017

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 208 ratings

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The first thorough study of the co-existence of crime and democratic processes in Indian politics  

In India, the world’s largest democracy, the symbiotic relationship between crime and politics raises complex questions. For instance, how can free and fair democratic processes exist alongside rampant criminality? Why do political parties recruit candidates with reputations for wrongdoing? Why are one-third of state and national legislators elected—and often re-elected—in spite of criminal charges pending against them? In this eye-opening study, political scientist Milan Vaishnav mines a rich array of sources, including fieldwork on political campaigns and interviews with candidates, party workers, and voters, large surveys, and an original database on politicians’ backgrounds to offer the first comprehensive study of an issue that has implications for the study of democracy both within and beyond India’s borders. 
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A close look at the underbelly of the world’s largest democracy.”—Wall Street Journal

“Vaishnav meticulously tracks the remarkable political success of India’s accused murderers, blackmailers, thieves and kidnappers . . .
When Crime Pays can be grimly amusing.”—Economist

"Milan Vaishnav has gotten deeply into the weeds of Indian politics, and presents in granular detail a remarkable picture of how India's political machinery works. His depiction of the people involved alone makes it a must-read for anyone who cares about the political future of the world's largest democracy."—Teresita C. Schaffer, 
Survival Global Politics and Strategy

“A thorough, disturbing, and often amusing scholarly analysis of the seamy side of Indian politics.”—
New York Review of Books

When Crime Pays was shortlisted for the New Indian Foundation 2018 Book Award.

Winner of the 2018 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award, sponsored by the Indian Express Group
 

"The most systematic analysis of corruption and criminalization in the world’s largest democracy. Harking back to the historical roots of this phenomenon, Vaishnav shows that it is growing because of societal, political, and economic factors, and that legislation passed to contain these factors has hardly made any difference. This remarkable book will change readers’ view of democracy in India."--Christophe Jaffrelot, Senior Research Fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS

"This is the first book length treatment of a peculiar paradox of Indian politics: namely, the coexistence of criminality and democratic vigor. Milan Vaishnav's analysis of this paradox is highly original and hugely fascinating, and will become a standard text on criminality, corruption and democracy."-- Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Brown University

"Why do so many people with criminal charges contest Indian elections, why do they win so often, and what does this tell us about parties and voters in the world’s largest democracy? Milan Vaishnav’s excellent book uses rich fieldwork and impressive quantitative analysis to provide compelling and surprising answers." --Steven Wilkinson, Nilekani Professor of India and South Asian Studies, Yale University

"While democracy is fast taking root in most parts of the world, criminality and corruption are getting increasingly entrenched. Ironically, voters seem quite comfortable with this state of affairs. This strange coexistence of free and fair elections with criminality and money power is beautifully analyzed in this important new book on electoral politics."--S.Y. Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India



"The most systematic analysis of corruption and criminalization in the world’s largest democracy. Harking back to the historical roots of this phenomenon, Vaishnav shows that it is growing because of societal, political, and economic factors, and that legislation passed to contain these factors has hardly made any difference. This remarkable book will change readers’ view of democracy in India."--Christophe Jaffrelot, Senior Research Fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS -- Christophe Jaffrelot

"This is the first book length treatment of a peculiar paradox of Indian politics: namely, the coexistence of criminality and democratic vigor. Milan Vaishnav's analysis of this paradox is highly original and hugely fascinating, and will become a standard text on criminality, corruption and democracy."-- Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Brown University -- Ashutosh Varshney

"Why do so many people with criminal charges contest Indian elections, why do they win so often, and what does this tell us about parties and voters in the world’s largest democracy? Milan Vaishnav’s excellent book uses rich fieldwork and impressive quantitative analysis to provide compelling and surprising answers." --Steven Wilkinson, Nilekani Professor of India and South Asian Studies, Yale University -- Steven Wilkinson

"While democracy is fast taking root in most parts of the world, criminality and corruption are getting increasingly entrenched. Ironically, voters seem quite comfortable with this state of affairs. This strange coexistence of free and fair elections with criminality and money power is beautifully analyzed in this important new book on electoral politics."--S.Y. Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India -- S.Y. Quraishi

About the Author

Milan Vaishnav is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. He was previously a fellow at the Center for Global Development and has taught at Columbia, George Washington, and Georgetown Universities.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; 1st edition (January 24, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 440 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300216203
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300216202
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 208 ratings

About the author

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Milan Vaishnav
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Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program and the host of the Grand Tamasha podcast at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary research focus is the political economy of India, and he examines issues such as corruption and governance, state capacity, distributive politics, and electoral behavior. He also conducts research on the Indian diaspora.

He is the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics (Yale University Press and HarperCollins India, 2017), which was awarded the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation book prize for the best non-fiction book on contemporary India published in 2017. He is also co-editor (with Devesh Kapur) of Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India (Oxford University Press, 2018) and (with Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Devesh Kapur) of Rethinking Public Institutions in India (Oxford University Press, 2017). His work has been published in scholarly journals such as American Journal of Political Science, Asian Survey, Governance, India Review, Journal of Democracy, Perspectives on Politics, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Studies in Indian Politics. He is a regular contributor to several Indian publications.

Previously, he worked at the Center for Global Development, where he served as a postdoctoral research fellow, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an adjunct professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (currently on leave) and has previously taught at Columbia and George Washington Universities. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.

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4.2 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2018
    Excellent book that helps make sense of the paradoxes we see in the story of modern and progressive India; it also provides an empirical view into crime-politics nexus, that gives us the India we have today. Much to my surprise, the book brings out the political-smarts of the average Indian voter that most intellectuals simply discounted or failed to grasp. The principles outlined in this book also explain the rise of Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton's defeat and Donald Trump's Presidency. A good read for many Americans perplexed by current-day polity in USA.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2017
    Most good social science doesn't make for page-turning reading, but Vaishnav's When Crime Pays is a major exception. The characters in this book (India's criminal politicians) come alive through vignettes and stories in nearly every chapter, and their stories make the book's theory of why Indian voters seem to prefer politicians with criminal backgrounds intuitively accessible.

    This is a must read for people who care about the political economy of developing democracies, electoral politics, and the future of the world's largest democracy and fastest growing major economy. Vaishnav's counterintuitive, compelling theory (with lucid presentation) should be of major consequence for scholars of political economy in democratic societies, and equally important for readers outside the academy.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2017
    This book is beautifully conceived and presented. It goes in depth into many questions and scenarios that are often counterintuitive. It is a solid and deep piece of social and political science but at the same time is a good read. I learned so much from reading it and am going to read it again more slowly because I found myself whipping through it and I want to absorb all the wisdom and analysis and understand what is really happening in Indian politics. Kudos to th author and the publisher. This is a keeper.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2017
    Dr. Vaishnav's work always demonstrates his rare talent to combine the discipline of a true social scientist with a keen understanding of the human element in politics. This book is no exception. Equally at home on the shelves of a diplomat and an academic, it is systematic and rigorous without being disconnected or impractical. Nor is the audience limited to those with an interest in India. It should be required reading for anyone with an interest in how politicians interact with, and join, the criminal classes. Which is to say, it should be required reading for everyone.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2017
    Vaishnav flawlessly melds individual stories from on the ground in India with hard-core data, giving us an extremely readable explanation for the high numbers of criminal politicians in India. For anyone interested in how corruption may function and flourish in democracies across the world, this is an excellent choice.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2021
    No returns.
    I bought it by mistake, did not even unwrapped it and could not return it.
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2017
    Very Biased anti-Modi take on 2014.author doesn't understand the aspiration of young and what Modi stands for running corruption free government for 2 years. Biased ...
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2017
    A painstakingly researched, wide-reaching, and essential contribution to scholarship on Indian democracy and corruption in general. This is required reading for anyone with interest in the field, and (as other reviewers have noted) reads like narrative journalism without sacrificing any of its scholarly rigor.

Top reviews from other countries

  • Vivek Sir
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book
    Reviewed in India on August 16, 2024
    Must read for Indian voters
  • K P Vineeth
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good piece of research
    Reviewed in India on April 21, 2021
    This book clearly explains the nexus between crime, politics and social divisions, author had clearly explained with statistical analysis but sometimes I felt there was a slight deviation and repetition other than that it was a nice piece of work one can read.
  • Modun Justine
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good read.
    Reviewed in India on February 19, 2023
    Deep insights of Indian politics. This is good for students of Political Science as well as for those who are interested in politics.
  • Bhavesh
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good to read it
    Reviewed in India on August 13, 2023
    Very good book, all has to take it.
  • Praveen James
    5.0 out of 5 stars THE AUTHORITATIVE TEXT BOOK ON "CRIME AND POLITICS"
    Reviewed in India on March 27, 2019
    If you are really curious to know politics is influenced by Crime especially the Indian Politics, this is the right book. I also grab this opportunity to appreciate the author for things such as:-

    a) the systematic manner of presenting the subject; and
    b) the amount of the research he has done