Abishek Choutagunta on Federalism, President’s Rule, and Constitutional Design

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I spoke with Abishek Choutagunta, who received his PhD in economics from the Institute of Law and Economics, University of Hamburg.  He is also an EV India fellow at the Mercatus Center. We discussed his paper “President’s Rule in India: State Emergency or Political Capture?” with Christian Bjørnskov, Stefan Voigt, and myself, yes you heard that right. We talked about the Centripetal Federalism in India, state and local government finances, emergency powers, SR Bommai, constitutional design, and much more.

Recorded September 6th, 2024.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:01) - Grand Tamasha

(00:02:58) - Article 356 and President’s Rule

(00:26:47) - Why are local governments broken in India?

(00:46:33) - India is Centripetal in its Federalism

(00:53:08) - Outro