Following India's general election in May 2009, this book undertakes a critical evaluation of the performance of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It presents a thorough analysis of the UPA coalition government, and by providing an understanding of the new innovations in the UPA's policies, the book goes on to evaluate the effectiveness of these policies against their aims and objectives.

Lawrence Saez is Associate Professor in Comparative and International Politics at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), UK. He is also Director of the Centre for South Asian Studies at SOAS and an Associate Fellow in the International Economics programme at Chatham House.

Gurharpal Singh is the Nadir Dinshaw Chair in Inter-Religious Relations and the Deputy Director of the Religions and Development Research Programme (DFID). He is based in the School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK.

1. Introduction Lawrence Saez and Gurharpal Singh Part 1:Governance 2. Did the central government's poverty initiatives help to re-elect it? James Manor 3. The UPA and federalism: a paradigm shift? Harihar Bhattacharya 4. Educational exclusion and inclusive development in India Shailaja Fennell Part 2: Secularism 5. UPA and secularism, 2004-2009. Gurharpal Singh 6. The UPA and Muslims Steve Wilkinson 7. Beyond identity? The UPA rhetoric on social justice and reservations Rochana Bajpai Part 3: Security 8. The UPA's foreign policy, 2004-2009 Kanti Bajpai 9. India's energy security during the UPA government Lawrence Saez 10. India's anti-terrorism and security policy in the first UPA government Rahul Roy-Chaudhury 11. Conclusion