Coalition Politics in India after 1990: A Historical-Analytical Study

The general election of 1989 marked a definitive break with the Congress-dominated party system that had structured Indian politics for four decades. From that point onwards, no single party commanded a parliamentary majority on its own for a quarter of a century, and the country was governed by a succession of multi-party coalitions: the National Front (1989–1990), the Narasimha Rao minority government (1991–1996), the two United Front ministries (1996–1998), the Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (1998–2004), and the two terms of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (2004–2014).