Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia: A Comparative and Historical Perspective

Contemporary South Asia

by Ayesha Jalal

Challenging the view that a shared colonial legacy led to contrasting patterns of political development in South Asia--democracy in India and authoritarianism in Pakistan and Bangladesh--Ayesha Jalal argues that, despite differences in form, central political authority in each state has confronted similar threats from ethnic and regional movements. By comparing state structures and political processes, the author evaluates and redefines democracy, citizenship, sovereignty and the nation state, arguing for more decentralized government.

Genres: Nonfiction, Pakistan, India, History, Academic

312 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 1995

About the author

Ayesha Jalal is a Pakistani-American historian and academic, and the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University. Her work focuses on the military-industrial complex, post-colonial politics, and Muslim identity in South Asia. She is also known for positing in The Sole Spokesman that the Partition of India and Pakistan was less a political necessity than a terrible human tragedy and that the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was a pragmatist who was motivated by greater rights for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent than the creation of a separate state.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stopped after chapter 2. Good but highly academic. I'd like to finish it one day long in the future when the study of recent South Asian history is unsullied by the memory of school.

[Cormac Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for anyone intrigued by the political developments in South Asia in the last few hundred years. This piece acts as a benficial study into how both Democracy and Authoritarianism were interchanged between nation states such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan in South Asia particularly in the decolonial period.

[Idrees Jalbani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading

[Sadam Hussain Sario · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Author

[Claire S]

And this also, must-must-read-soon!