The Perils of Power: How Minority Representation Shapes Identity and Politics in India

CURA announces the fall 2025 colloquium schedule. This year-long conversation brings together an interdisciplinary community of scholars of culture, religion, and world affairs. Please register below for the session(s) you plan to attend. The October 10 workshop will feature a paper by Feyaad Allie, Assistant Professor of Government, Harvard University.

Please note that reading the paper in advance is required for attendance. CURA workshops are dedicated to focused, in depth feedback and discussion. A copy of the paper(s) will be sent to registered participants one week in advance of each session.

Abstract: Extensive research focuses on the pathways for minorities to gain power and the obstacles they may face to govern in office. This book project (in progress) shifts the focus and studies how power shapes group politics. I present a unified theory of minority and dominant group behavior, arguing that when minorities gain political power, it can trigger two distinct challenges that can undermine their political mobilization. Minority power can trigger (1) the consolidation of the dominant group against them and (2) the division of minority groups themselves along salient sub-identities. The book studies this logic in the context of Muslims in India, the world’s largest democracy. The empirical chapter of focus will detail how Muslim political power in India can divide the Muslim community along caste and sect sub-identities. I explain how minority elites can mobilize these sub-identities, shifting the political environment that minorities operate in and ultimately impacting voter behavior. Overall, the project contributes to our understanding of the role of identity and shifting cleavages in political behavior, the value and consequences of political representation, and politics within minoritized groups.

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