Democracy in South Asia

Harinda Vidanage PhD

South Asia

• Colonial influence shaped what modern South Asia is while reverse migration shaped many global locations and created constant connections

• Focus on post colonial period to look at changes within South Asia

Colonial project

• categories of representation, mistakes not corrected in decolonization project as local elites did not change the system.

• Indian Polity, Pakistani Polity, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi Polity

Democratic experience

• Different from the European experience

Why?.1) Gradual unfolding of market economies and liberal democracy.

2) They were establish nation states by the time they began liberalizing.

In South Asia

• It was strewn with obstacles• Simultaneous nation building and economic

development• Social problems such as violence, poverty,

corruption are problematic but can coexist with gradual democratization

• And failure of democracy in one part of the country on issue or a particular moment does not mean a failure of the democratic transformation

Issues

• What has democracy done to and in South Asia

• What has influenced democracy in its engagement with the South Asian experience

• Thus look at democracy from a South Asian perspective

Dominant genres in democracy

• Modernization and political development : Structural transformations

(in Europe territorial consolidation, industrialization and democratization)

• Pluralist theories leading to procedural conditions: free and fair elections, free press, civil society and democratic participation

Timing

• Uneven time frame (all within last 60 years)

1. Sri Lanka 1930 (Pre Independence/ 3 general elections)

2. India 1947 (predominantly Hindu committed to secular democracy)

3. Pakistan 1947 (Islamic)4. Bangladesh 19715. Nepal 1990 (till recent a Hindu Kingdom)

Indian subcontinent

Colonialism (British era)

Caste issue• The ordering of people according to caste is an

important practice in Indian society which, has been observed, is linked to occupational specialisation, and which has been developed and maintained by exclusive marriage practices.

• The link between skin colour, caste, race and supposed common central Asian origin for Europeans and high caste Indians is still widely believed northerners and Southerners in India, whose languages and thereby ethnicity are described as ‘Dravidian’.

(Bates 2007)

complexity

• Caste system: Indian example

Achievements

• India elections 1951-1952• 80 parties contested 489 parliamentary states,

3,300 state legislations• Four month long election• Federal structure with a strong center• 1956 Linguistic divisions • Congress Party and its strength based on unity,

secularism, liberal democracy and nonalignment

Pakistan

Pakistan’s history• Partition and communal violence• Absurd geography• Demise of political leaders Jinnah and Liaquat

Ali at an early stage in post independent period

• Military bureaucratic elite Vs. Civilian leaders• Kashmir and perceived threats from India• Regional elites, feudal relationships and

military interventions

Nepal (14 – 15 Main ethnic groups)

Nepal in Brief• By 1947 When India and Pakistan was formed Nepal was an

independent state for more than a century• 19th Century under the rule of Prithvi Narayan Shah expanded

the Nepali boundaries• Conflict with British East India company.• Nepal’s location between two powerful civilizations influenced

its social shaping.• Indo Aryan, Tibetan-Burman and Newari people• Struggle between King and Nepali elites and limited popular

involvement• Rise of leftwing politics

Complexity matrix

The region has vertical and horizontal divisions from caste, class divisions to ethnic, religious and linguistic divisions a significant challenge to establishing democratic values, institutions and acceptance.

Four major religions, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity.

Problems of monolithic nationalism

• Sikh, Kashmiri, Tamil, Assamese struggles in India

• Bengalis, Baloch and Mohajir struggles in Pakistan

National movements and political elites

• National movements towards independence and decolonization

• Indian national movement and the Indian congress, Muslim league evolved in Pakistani Muslim league, Sri Lankan national movement Ceylon national congress evolved into the United National Party

• These Post independence parties evolved into primary proponents of political shaping of South Asian nation states and naturally became the political elite

Political elites challenged• Political elites in all South Asian states were challenges

• The split of East and West Pakistan is a classic examples, the Bengalis did not want to be ruled by the Punjabi dominant political elite of West Pakistan.

• Emergence of the left movement in South Asia signifies the failure of elite politics and issues of underdevelopment, policies overlooks minority categories.

• Thus India, Sri Lanka and Nepal inherited strong, and sometimes militant left movements which later transformed into violent uprisings and ethnic conflict

Democracy prevails• Democracy has managed to advance and sustain

• Proliferation of representation through minority entities, expansion of political spectrum

• Extreme and Centre left parties coming back into democratic process (India, Sri Lanka and Nepal)

• Pakistan’s belief in democracy and its challenges

• India’s social divisions, political corruption and emergence of left wing struggles.