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

Ayesha Jalal

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511559372

In a comparative and historical study of the interplay between democratic politics and authoritarian states in South Asia, Ayesha Jalal explains how a shared colonial legacy led to apparently contrasting patterns of political development - democracy in India and authoritarianism in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The analysis shows how, despite differences in form, central political authority in each state came to confront similar threats from regional and linguistic dissidence, religious and sectarian strife, as well as class and caste conflicts. By comparing state structures and political processes, the author evaluates and redefines democracy, citizenship, sovereignty and the nation-state, arguing for a more decentralized governmental structure. This original and provocative study will challenge students and scholars in the field to rethink traditional concepts of democracy and authoritarianism in South Asia.

‘Jalal’s real contribution lies, I think, in reminding us that within the region of South Asia, it is not ethnicity itself that is a problem, but the state structures from within which it arises.’

Source: The Times Higher Education Supplement

- Aa Reduce text
- Aa Enlarge text

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Total number of HTML views: 0

Total number of PDF views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

Total views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia

A Comparative and Historical Perspective

This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

List of maps
pp ix-x

Preface
pp xi-xiv

Introduction
pp 1-8

1 - The colonial legacy in India and Pakistan
pp 9-28

2 - State formation and political processes in India and Pakistan, 1947 to c.1971
pp 29-65

3 - The ‘populist’ era and its aftermath in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, 1971 to c.1993
pp 66-121

4 - The state and political economy, 1947 to c.1993
pp 122-156

5 - Central power and regional dissidence
pp 157-200

6 - Societies, cultures and ideologies: hybrids in contrived monoliths
pp 201-246

7 - Conclusion
pp 247-257

Bibliographical essay
pp 258-275

Index
pp 276-295

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information

Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia

A Comparative and Historical Perspective

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Save Search

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information