Übung Democracy and the State in South Asia

India is the world’s largest democracy and the states of South Asia were among the first in the post-colonial era to establish democracy in the wake of British rule. However, the design and application of democracy in South Asia was a very complex process with divergent results. The South Asian states did not have centuries to interpret and adjust in order to evolve their democracy as the British had. Instead within months they needed to formulate a state and forge an executive to immediately deal with issues like war and secessionism. The difficult task of state-building in a democratically nascent period meant that the principles of democracy were sometimes overwhelmed by practical need. States in South Asia also took different paths from each other – some going down the democratic path and others the authoritarian one. Throughout the region democracy very often worked differently from Western conceptions. This seminar focuses on the early years after independence was achieved in South Asia and how the political actors, institutions and democracy itself performed and what consequences these continue to have for contemporary South Asia. This seminar’s objectives are to: Firstly introduce students to how democratic government was established in South Asia and; Secondly for students to examine the democratic actors and institutions of South Asian government. Brass, Paul R (ed.) (2010) Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics, London: Routledge. Kumarasingham, Harshan (2013) A Political Legacy of the British Empire – Power and the Parliamentary System in Post Colonial India and Sri Lanka, London: I.B. Tauris. Mitra, Subrata K., (2010) Politics in India: Structure, Process and Policy, London: Routledge. Tudor, Maya (2013) The Promise of Power – The Origins of Democracy in India and Autocracy in Pakistan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bemerkung Blockveranstaltung Anmeldung Anmeldung zur Veranstaltung über Coremato von 24.09. bis 30.09.2014 unter: http://www.gsi.uni-muenchen.de/studium/organisation/ole/index.html Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politikwissenschaft LMU München WiSe 1415 Dr. Kumarasingham Harshan