United Progressive Alliance

Not to be confused with United Progressive Alliance (Kenya) or United Progressive Alliance (Sri Lanka).

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; IAST: Saṁyukt Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party got the majority.^[6]

United Progressive Alliance IAST: Saṁyukt Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan
Abbreviation	UPA
Chairperson	Sonia Gandhi
Lok Sabha Leader	Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
Rajya Sabha Leader	Mallikarjun Kharge
Founded	May 6, 2004; 19 years ago (2004-05-06)
Dissolved	July 18, 2023; 5 months ago (2023-07-18)
Succeeded by	Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
Ideology	Secularism^[1] Social democracy^[2] Big tent^[3]^[4]
Political position	Centre-left^[5]
Alliance	19 parties
Seats in Lok Sabha	108 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	64 / 245
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies	1,960 / 4,036
Seats in State Legislative Councils	152 / 423
Number of states and union territories in government	06 / 31
Politics of India Political parties Elections

The UPA subsequently governed India from 2004 until 2014 for 2 terms before losing power to their main rivals, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The UPA used to rule 7 States and union territories of India before it was dissolved to form the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance on 18 July 2023 ahead of the 2024 general election.^[7][8]

History

2004–2008

UPA was formed soon after the 2004 Indian general election when no party had won a majority. The then ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 181 seats^[9] of 544, as opposed to the UPA's tally of 218 seats.

The Left Front with 59 MPs (excluding the speaker of the Lok Sabha), the Samajwadi Party with 39 MPs and the Bahujan Samaj Party with 19 MPs were other significant blocks that supported UPA at various times.^[10][11] UPA did not achieve a majority, rather it relied on external support, similar to the formula adopted by the previous minority governments of the United Front, the NDA, the Congress government of P. V. Narasimha Rao, and earlier governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar.

An informal alliance had existed prior to the elections as several of the constituent parties had developed seat-sharing agreements in many states. After the election the results of negotiations between parties were announced. The UPA government's policies were initially guided by a common minimum programme that the alliance hammered out with consultations with Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet of the 59-member Left Front.^[12] Hence, government policies were generally perceived as centre-left, reflecting the centrist policies of the INC.

During the tenure of Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, the constituents of the UPA were, by mutual consent, supporting his government.^[13]

On 22 July 2008, the UPA survived a vote of confidence in the parliament brought on by the Left Front withdrawing their support in protest at the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.^[14] The Congress party and its leaders along with then Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh were accused of a "cash for vote" scam as part of the cash-for-votes scandal, in which they were accused of buying votes in Lok Sabha to save the government.^[15][16][17] During UPA I, the economy saw steady economic growth and many people (100 million+) escaped poverty.

2009–2014

In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the UPA won 262 seats, of which the INC accounted for 206. During UPA II, the alliance was successfully won election in Maharashtra Haryana Arunachal Pradesh and governed the nation with social justice and democratically. However there were several allegations of scams during its tenure that impacted UPA's image nationwide and the approval rating for the govt fell In addition, many members left for YSRCP. This started a domino effect with members leaving to form their own parties and parties such as DMK leaving the alliance altogether. During this time UPA struggled with state election and leadership stability. The alliance suffered a defeat in 2014 Indian general election as it won only 60 seats. In addition, UPA won only one state election and got wiped out from Andhra Pradesh where they previously had 150+ MLA.

2015–2019

From 2014 to 2017, UPA won only 3 state elections. This was blamed on the alliance's failed leadership and weakness compared to the NDA. In addition the party lost power in states where they had once won state elections as in Bihar. In 2017 the alliance lost again. In 2018 UPA had a phenomenal comeback in the state elections as the party won important in Karnataka, Rajasthan and others. More parties joined the alliance and it was stronger than ever.

In 2019 Indian general election the UPA won only 91 seats in the general election and INC won 52 seats, thus failed to secure 10% seats required for the leader of opposition post. The alliance lost another state to BJP with the party winning by-polls and pushing the UPA into the minority.

Towards the end of 2019, the alliance made huge gains in Haryana, won in Jharkhand and formed a state-level alliance called Maha Vikas Aghadi to form the government in Maharashtra with Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena leading the ministry. Shiv Sena had been a member of NDA for twenty five years. It left NDA and joined MVA in 2019.^[18]

2020–2023

Since 2020, more parties joined the alliance. The alliance lost the Bihar election that everyone expected it to win but in 2022, ruling party JD(U) left National Democratic Alliance and rejoined Mahagathbandhan to form government in Bihar.

In addition UPA only won 1 out of the 5 state elections in 2021. However the alliance made significant gain in a number of MLA races. MVA lost control of Maharashtra due to crisis and split in Shiv Sena. Moreover, UPA lost in Gujarat assembly elections however, it won the state election in Himachal Pradesh.

In 2023, UPA again failed in winning elections in the North-East but won the assembly in very important state of Karnataka. On 18 July 2023, the alliance was renamed into Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Membership

This section is transcluded from List of United Progressive Alliance members. (edit | history)

Party		President	Portrait	MPs in Lok Sabha	MPs in Rajya Sabha	MLAs in State Legislative Assemblies	MLCs in State Legislative Councils	Base state
1	Indian National Congress	Mallikarjun Kharge		50	31	737	55	National Party
2	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	M. K. Stalin		24	10	139	0	Tamil Nadu, Puducherry
3	Janata Dal (United)	Rajiv Ranjan Singh		16	5	52	25	Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur
4	Shiv Sena (UBT)	Uddhav Thackeray		6	3	17	9	Maharashtra, Dadra and Nagar Haveli
5	Nationalist Congress Party	Sharad Pawar		5	4	59		Maharashtra
6	Rashtriya Janata Dal	Lalu Prasad Yadav		0	6	80	14	Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala
7	Indian Union Muslim League	K. M. Kader Mohideen		3	1	15		Kerala
8	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	Farooq Abdullah		3	0	0		Jammu and Kashmir
9	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	Hemant Soren		1	2	30		Jharkhand
10	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Vaiko		0	1	0		Tamil Nadu
11	Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)	Manoj Bhattacharya		1	0	0		Kerala
12	Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi	Thol. Thirumavalavan		1	0	4		Tamil Nadu
13	Assam Jatiya Parishad	Lurin Jyoti Gogoi		0	0	0		Assam
14	Goa Forward Party	Vijai Sardesai		0	0	1		Goa
15	Kerala Congress	P. J. Joseph		0	0	2		Kerala
16	Revolutionary Marxist Party of India	Mangat Ram Pasla		0	0	1		Kerala
17	Anchalik Gana Morcha	Ajit Kumar Bhuyan		0	1	0		Assam
18	Kerala Congress (Jacob)	Anoop Jacob		0	0	1		Kerala
19	Nationalist Congress Kerala	Mani C. Kappan		0	0	1		Kerala
20	Peasants and Workers Party of India	Jayant Prabhakar Patil		0	0	1	1	Maharashtra
20	Independent	Some Independent Candidates		0	0	26		None
	Total			114	64	1123		India

Governments

 

Current ruling parties in India

  BJP (10)

  BJP Alliance (6)

  I.N.D.I.A. (11)

  Others

  President's rule (1)

  No legislature (5)

The Indian National Congress previously held power in Bihar, Gujarat, Nagaland, Odisha and Sikkim without the UPA up to 1990.

List of chief ministers from UPA

See also: List of chief ministers from the Indian National Congress

Incumbent chief ministers from the United Progressive Alliance

S.No	State	Name	Portrait	Cabinet
1.	Himachal Pradesh	Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu			Sukhu I
2.	Karnataka	Siddaramaiah			Siddaramaiah II
3.	Jharkhand	Hemant Soren			Soren II
4.	Bihar	Nitish Kumar			Nitish VIII
5.	Tamil Nadu	M. K. Stalin			Stalin I

List of deputy chief ministers from UPA

Incumbent deputy chief ministers from the United Progressive Alliance

S.No	State	Name	Portrait	Cabinet
1.	Bihar	Tejashwi Yadav			Nitish VIII
2.	Himachal Pradesh	Mukesh Agnihotri			Sukhu I
3.	Karnataka	D. K. Shivakumar			Siddaramaiah II

List of UPA state governments

S.No	State/UT	UPA Govt since	Chief Minister						Alliance Partners		Seats	Last election
			Name		Party		Seats	Since
1	Bihar	10 August 2022	Nitish Kumar			JD(U)	45	10 August 2022		RJD (79)	160/243	28 October – 7 November 2020
										INC (19)
										CPI(M-L) (12)
										CPI(M) (2)
										CPI (2)
										IND (1)
3	Himachal Pradesh	11 December 2022	Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu			INC	40	11 December 2022		IND (3)	43/68	9 November 2022
4	Jharkhand	28 December 2019	Hemant Soren			JMM	30	28 December 2019		INC (17)	50/81	23 December 2019
										RJD (1)
										NCP (1)
										CPI(M-L) (1)
6	Tamil Nadu	7 May 2021	M. K. Stalin			DMK	133	7 May 2021		INC (18)	166/234	6 April 2021
										VCK (4)
										CPI(M) (2)
										CPI (2)
7	Karnataka	20 May 2023	Siddaramaiah			INC	135	13 May 2023		SKP (1)	137/224	13 May 2023
										IND (1)

8) Telengana  : 7th December Revanth Reddy। Telangana Legislative Assembly

Indian National Congress

2023

ed counciles

State/UT	MLA seats	INC	INC+		Overall seats	Ruling Party	Ref(s)
Andhra Pradesh	175	0	None		0 / 175	YSRCP	^[19]
Arunachal Pradesh	60	4	None		4 / 60	BJP (NDA)	^[20]
Assam	126	27		CPI(M) (1)	29 / 126	BJP (NDA)	^[21]
				RD (1)
Bihar	243	19		RJD (79)	160 / 243	JD(U) (MGB)	^[22]
				JD(U) (45)
				CPI(M-L) (12)
				CPI(M) (2)
				CPI (2)
				IND (1)
Chhattisgarh	90	35	None		35 / 90	BJP (NDA)	^[23]
Goa	40	3		GFP (1)	4 / 40	BJP (NDA)	^[24]
Gujarat	182	16	None		16 / 182	BJP (NDA)	^[25]
Haryana	90	30	None		30 / 90	BJP (NDA)	^[26]
Himachal Pradesh	68	40		IND (3)	43 / 68	INC (UPA)	^[27]
Jharkhand	81	17		JMM (30)	49 / 81	JMM (UPA)	^[28]
				RJD (1)
				CPI(M-L) (1)
Karnataka	224	136	None		136 / 224	INC (UPA)	^[29]
Kerala	140	21		IUML (15)	41 / 140	CPI(M) (LDF)	^[30]
				KC (2)
				KC(J) (1)
				RMPI (1)
				IND (1)
Madhya Pradesh	230	66	None		66 / 230	BJP (NDA)	^[31]
Maharashtra	288	45		NCP(S) (15)	78 / 288	SHS (NDA)	^[32]
				SS(UBT) (17)
				CPI(M) (1)
				SWP (1)
				IND (1)
Manipur	60	5		JD(U)(1)	6 / 60	BJP (NDA)	^[33]
Meghalaya	60	5	None		5 / 60	NPP (NDA)	^[34]
Mizoram	40	1	None		1 / 40	ZPM	^[35]
Nagaland	60	0	None		0 / 60	NDPP (NDA)	^[36]
Odisha	147	8	None		8 / 147	BJD	^[37]
Punjab	117	18		IND (1)	19 / 117	AAP	^[38]
Rajasthan	200	69		RLD (1)	70 / 200	BJP (NDA)	^[39]
Sikkim	32	0	None		0 / 32	SKM (NDA)	^[40]
Tamil Nadu	234	18		DMK (133)	159 / 234	DMK (SPA)	^[41]
				VCK (4)
				CPI(M) (2)
				CPI (2)
Telangana	119	64		CPI (1)	65 / 119	INC (UPA)	^[42]
Tripura	60	3		CPI(M) (11)	14 / 60	BJP (NDA)	^[43]
Uttar Pradesh	403	2	None		2 / 403	BJP (NDA)	^[44]
Uttarakhand	70	19	None		19 / 70	BJP (NDA)	^[45]
West Bengal	294	0		ISF (1)	1 / 294	AITC	^[46]
Delhi	70	0	None		0 / 70	AAP	^[47]
Jammu and Kashmir	90	NA					^[48]
Puducherry	33	2		DMK (6)	8 / 33	AINRC (NDA)	^[49]
Total	4126	725	451		1,176 / 4,036	UPA (7)	31

State/UT	Total									Independent	Vacant
		BJP	NDA		INC	UPA		Others
Andhra Pradesh	58	2	None		None				YSRCP (33)	3
									TDP (15)
									PDF (4)
									UTF (1)
Bihar	75	23		RLJP (1)	4		RJD (14)			5
							Janata Dal (United) (25)
							CPI (2)
							HAM(S) (1)
Karnataka	75	37		IND (1)	25				Janata Dal (Secular) (11)		1
Maharashtra	78	30		RSPS (1)	10		SHS (15)		None		6
							NCP (12)
							PWPI (2)
							IND (2)
Telangana	40	None			1	None			TRS (33)	3	1
									AIMIM (2)
Uttar Pradesh	100	81		AD(S) (1)		None			SP (9)		9
				NISHAD (1)					BSP (1)
				IND (6)					Jansatta Dal (L) (1)
Total	426	154	41		40	30		124		11	26

Former members

Political Party		State	Date	Reason for withdrawal
	BRS	Telangana	2006	Differences over proposed statehood for Telangana
	BSP	National Party	2008	Congress opposed the UP government where the BSP was the ruling party
	JKPDP	Jammu and Kashmir	2009	Congress decided to support National Conference Government in Jammu and Kashmir
	PMK	Tamil Nadu	2009	PMK declared that it would join the AIADMK led front
	AIMIM	Telangana	2012	Accused Congress led State Government of Communalism
	AITC	West Bengal	2012	AITC's demands on rollbacks and reforms not met, including the governments decision to allow FDI in retail and hike in the prices of railway tickets.
	SJ(D)	Kerala	2014	It merged with Janata Dal (United) on 29 December 2014.
	RLD	Uttar Pradesh	2014	Decided to leave after 2014 election performance.
	JD(S)	Karnataka	2019	After JD(S)-INC alliance govt fell in Karnataka, two parties decided to end alliance.
	RLSP	Bihar	2020	Withdrawn support before Bihar Assembly Election 2020 & Allied with BSP+ on 29 September 2020.
	VIP	Bihar	2020	Withdrawn support before Bihar Assembly Election 2020 & Allied with NDA
	KC(M)	Kerala	2020	Decided to join LDF
	BPF	Assam	2021	Withdrew due to performance in 2021 Assam election.
	AIUDF	Assam	2021	Party was expelled from the alliance.

Poll performances

2004 Lok Sabha Election

Sr.no	Party	Seats Won	Seat Change	Vote%
1.	Indian National Congress	145	32	26.7%
2.	Rashtriya Janata Dal	21	12	2.2%
3.	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	16	4	1.8%
4.	Nationalist Congress Party	9	1	1.8%
5.	Lok Janshakti Party	4		0.6%
6.	Telangana Rashtra Samithi	2		0.6%
7.	Pattali Makkal Katchi	6	1	0.5%
8.	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	5		0.5%
9.	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	4		0.4%
10.	Indian Union Muslim League	1	1	0.2%
11.	Republican Party of India (Athawale)	1		0.1%
12.	Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party	1		0.1%
Total		218	83	35.4%

2009 Lok Sabha Election

Sr.no	Party	Seats Won	Seat Change
1.	Indian National Congress	206	61
2.	Rashtriya Janata Dal	4	17
3.	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	18	2
4.	Nationalist Congress Party	9	1
5.	All India Trinamool Congress	19	18
6.	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	3	3
7.	Bodoland People's Front	1	1
8.	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha		3
9.	All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen	1	1
10.	Indian Union Muslim League	2	1
11.	Kerala Congress (Mani)	1	1
Total		262	44

List of presidents and vice presidents

Note that it refers to nomination by alliance, as the offices of President and Vice President are apolitical.

Presidents

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Term of office Electoral mandates Time in office		Previous post	Vice president	Party^[50]
12		Pratibha Patil (b.1934)	25 July 2007	25 July 2012	Governor of Rajasthan	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2007) Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2007–12)	Indian National Congress
			2007
			5 years, 0 days
13		Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020)	25 July 2012	25 July 2017	Union Minister of Finance	Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2012–17)
			2012
			5 years, 0 days

Vice presidents

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)^[51]	Elected (% votes)	Took office	Left office	Term	President(s)	Party
12		Mohammad Hamid Ansari (b.1937)	2007 (67.21)	11 August 2007	10 August 2012	10 years, 0 days	Pratibha Patil	Indian National Congress
			2012 (67.31)	11 August 2012	10 August 2017		Pranab Mukherjee

List of prime ministers

Further information: List of prime ministers of India

List of prime ministers of India

No.	Prime ministers	Portrait	Term in office			Lok Sabha	Government	Cabinet	Constituency
			Start	End	Tenure
14	Manmohan Singh		22 May 2004	22 May 2009	10 years, 4 days	14th	UPA I	Manmohan Singh I	Rajya Sabha MP From Assam
			22 May 2009	26 May 2014		15th	UPA II	Manmohan Singh II

Candidates in elections

Lok Sabha general elections

• 2009 Indian general election
• 2014 Indian general election
• 2019 Indian general election

Controversies

The winter session of parliament in October 2008 came under intense criticism from the Left parties and the BJP to demand a full-fledged winter session instead of what was seen as the UPA to having "scuttled the voice of Parliament" by bringing down the sittings to a record low of 30 days in the year. The tensions between the UPA and the opposition parties became evident at an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee when the leader of opposition, L. K. Advani questioned the status, timing and schedule of the current session of parliament.^[52]

M. Karunanidhi had said he felt "let down" by the "lukewarm" response of the Centre and had demanded amendments in the resolution on Sri Lanka.^{[citation needed]}

One of the amendments was to "declare that genocide and war crimes had been committed and inflicted on the Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sri Lanka Army and the administrators".

The second one was "establishment of a credible and independent international commission of investigation in a time-bound manner into the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international International human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law and crime of genocide against the Tamils". Karunanidhi said Parliament should adopt the resolution incorporating these two amendments.^[53]

The UPA was criticised for its alleged involvement scams such as the Commonwealth Games Scam of 2010, the 2G spectrum case, and the Indian coal allocation scam. Apart from the above-mentioned scams, the UPA has been under intense fire for the alleged doles handed out to the son-in-law of the Gandhi family, Robert Vadra, by UPA-run state governments.^[54]

See also

• Indian National Congress
• Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
• Coalition government
• National Advisory Council
• National Democratic Alliance
• Third Front

References

1. "UPA and secularism".
2. Agrawal, S. P.; Aggarwal, J. C., eds. (1989). Nehru on Social Issues. New Delhi: Concept Publishing. ISBN 978-817022207-1.
3. Lowell Barrington (2009). Comparative Politics: Structures and Choices. Cengage Learning. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-618-49319-7.
4. Meyer, Karl Ernest; Brysac, Shareen Blair (2012). Pax Ethnica: Where and How Diversity Succeeds. PublicAffairs. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-61039-048-4. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
5. "United Progressive Alliance political organization, India".
6. . electionaffairs.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012.
7. "Opposition meeting: 26 Indian parties form alliance to take on PM Modi". BBC.
8. "NDA vs I.N.D.I.A in 2024 as UPA rebrands itself as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance at Opposition meet". Financialexpress. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
9. Small parties, independents in great demand 19 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
10. Originally the SP had 39 MPs 31 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine. 6 MPs defied party whip and have been expelled from the party.
11. Lok Sabha members 31 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
12. "Congress pins hopes on Jyoti Basu". The Times of India.^{[dead link]}
13. Madhu Koda to be next Jharkhand CM 3 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
14. "Indian government survives vote". BBC News. 22 July 2008. from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
15. "Cash-for-votes scam: The deadly secrets of sting Singh : Cover Story - India Today". intoday.in. from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
16. "Cash For Vote Scam - Amar Singh - Supreme Court - Sudheendra Kulkarni - Swamajwadi Party - BJP". oneindia.com. from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
17. "Cash-for-vote scam 2008: Court orders further probe". indianexpress.com. from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
18. ""Wasted 25 Years In Alliance With BJP...," Says Uddhav Thackeray". NDTV.com. 23 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
19. Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
20. Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
21. Assam Legislative Assembly
22. Bihar Legislative Assembly
23. Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly
24. Goa Legislative Assembly
25. Gujarat Legislative Assembly
26. Haryana Legislative Assembly
27. Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
28. Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
29. Karnataka Legislature
30. Kerala Legislature
31. Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly
32. Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
33. Manipur Legislative Assembly
34. Meghalaya Legislative Assembly
35. Mizoram Legislative Assembly
36. Nagaland Legislative Assembly
37. Odisha Legislative Assembly
38. Punjab Legislative Assembly
39. Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
40. Sikkim Legislative Assembly
41. Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
42. Telangana Legislative Assembly
43. Tripura Legislative Assembly
44. Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
45. Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
46. West Bengal Legislative Assembly
47. Delhi Legislative Assembly
48. Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
49. Puducherry Legislative Assembly
50. "List of Presidents of India since India became republic | My India". www.mapsofindia.com. from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
51. "Former Vice Presidents". Vice President of India. from the original on 30 August 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
52. Political Bureau. "Left joins BJP to sing chorus against UPA". The Financial Express. from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
53. . The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
54. "CAG raps Haryana govt. for showing undue favours to Robert vadra". The Economic Times. from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2015.

Notes

External links

• Arora, Balveer and Tawa Lama Rewal, Stéphanie. "Introduction: Contextualizing and Interpreting the 15th Lok Sabha Elections". South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 3, 2009