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POSTS BY Tarunabh Khaitan
15 September 2026

Indirect Militant Democracy

In June 2023, the AfD won the district administration of Sonneberg. Between the first round and the runoff, the AfD’s vote share rose from 46.7 to 52.8 per cent, a gain of 6.1 percentage points. Its CDU opponent went from 35.7 to 47.2 per cent, gaining 11.5 points. The AfD won, but its eleven-point lead almost halved. Requiring it to compete for support beyond its initial electorate made victory harder. The episode recommends a form of indirect militant democracy: electoral rules that make limited appeal beyond a party’s committed supporters a disadvantage. Continue reading >>
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06 September 2022

Facing Up: Impact-Motivated Research Endangers not only Truth, but also Justice

All (but one) responses to my reflections on the ethics of activism as scholars in this blog symposium have been thoughtful, engaged, and charitable. For them, I am very grateful. If my rule-consequentialist worries have any truth to them, we should worry more rather than less about having the relevant motivation I castigate. When the moral stakes are higher (such as in vast areas of the Global South), one has to be even more careful about not making moral mistakes. The debate is not about whether one should be moral (by definition, we should be). It is about what is the most effective means in which the constitutional studies academy can contribute to a more just world. 

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22 October 2018

Indian Democracy at a Crossroads

The Indian Supreme Court's ruling on LGBTQ rights signals a court willing to play an unabashedly partisan role in the ongoing battle over the idea of India. The Indian Supreme Court, however, remains a complicated, polyvocal, court, and cannot be attributed any coherent ideological or jurisprudential worldview. This, at a time when the defining role of inclusive pluralism to India’s constitutional identity is at stake and majoritarian nationalism is waging a spirited battle, not just for continued political relevance but for reshaping the very idea of India. Continue reading >>
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