Second, winners get more attention and losers are often passed over. Contrast the recent reception the victorious Twenty20 cricket team received with that of the knocked out world cup team earlier this year. We love our winners and take no notice of losers. What is the composition of the third front? It is a combination of state-based political parties, none of which exercises power in their respective states. This group of out-of-office parties are additionally handicapped as they also do not have the numbers to make an impression at the Centre. Consequently their actions tend to fall outside our attention frame.

The concept of ‘heresthetic’ helps us answer the second and third questions. Heresthetic was a term invented by political scientist William Riker to depict the art of political manipulation. Smart politicians like savvy businessmen constantly contemplate moves to improve their position. Heresthetic describes manoeuvres, which include inventing new processes, innovating actions and framing issues, all of which are used to structure winning positions. While winners try to consolidate their position, losers attempt to change the existing status quo.

The UNPA is targeted against the coalition makers, the BJP and Congress, and not necessarily the coalitionable parties within the fronts. To dislodge them and change the existing state of affairs, the new front has to innovate, create and rethink issues of political agreement and disagreement. New entrants have to be pro-active. They are moving in unexplored territory; they have to find novel moves, use fresh paths, set new goals and more importantly keep their flock together. Raising new issues is difficult as the structural environment is winner/incumbent rather than loser/outsider friendly. Winners/incumbents can merely be content with defending encroachments. This explains why the third front appears to be an unstable and blundering entity compared to the incumbent fronts.

... contd.