Democratisation without representation? The power and political strategiesof a rural elite in north India

This paper examines how an agrarian elite in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), India, s eek access to the local police force. I argue that rich farmers belonging t o the intermediate Jat caste have been quite successful in perpetuating the ir economic and social advantage through placing relatives in the police fo rce and nurturing political networks that link them to the police and polit icians. The analysis complements macro-structural political economic accoun ts of India's flawed democratisation by offering a 'thick description' (Gee rtz, C. (1983). Local knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretative Anthropol ogy. New York: Basic Books) of local state/society relations, including att ention to spatial and symbolic dimensions of political networks. The paper provides a basis for re-evaluating popular accounts of the relationship bet ween rural people and the local state in India and highlights the broader r elevance of this research for political geography. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd. All rights reserved.