India, Pakistan, and Democracy: Solving the Puzzle of Divergent Paths

by Oldenburg; Philip

• ISBN13: 9780415780193
• ISBN10: 0415780195
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2010-08-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Why some countries have democratic regimes and others do not is both a significant issue in comparative politics and an important one for policy-makers to understand. This book presents an argument on why India is a democracy and Pakistan is not. Focusing on the specificities and the nuances of each state system, the author examines in detail the balance of authority and power between popular or elected politicians and the state apparatus through substantial historical analysis.Although similar, India and Pakistan clearly have contrasting political regime histories. These multi-religious and multi-lingual countries share a geographic and historical space that gave them in 1947, when they became independent from British rule, a virtually indistinguishable level of extreme poverty and extreme inequality. All of those factors militate against democracy, according to most theories, but democratic systems were the "next step" from the gradually liberalizing institutions of the state. In Pakistan, democracy did indeed fail very quickly after Independence. It has only been restored as a façade for military-bureaucratic rule for brief periods since then, including the present. After almost thirty years of democracy, India had a brush with authoritarian rule, in the 1975-76 Emergency, and some analysts were perversely reassured that the India exception had been erased. But instead, after a momentous election in 1977, democracy has become stronger over the last thirty years.A comparative analysis of the political systems of India and Pakistan as well as a historical overview of the two countries, this book constitutes essential reading for students of South Asian History and Politics. It is useful and balanced introduction to the politics of India and Pakistan.

Author Biography

Philip Oldenburg is a Research Scholar at the South Asia Institute of Columbia University, where he has taught political sciences since 1977. He has done field research in India on local self-government, and on national elections and has been editor or co-editor of ten books in the India Briefing series.

Table of Contents

Tables	p. vii
Figures	p. viii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Why India is a democracy and Pakistan is not (yet?) a democracy	p. 1
Defining democracy and autocracy	p. 4
The balance of authority between bureaucratic and political wings of the state	p. 8
The first thirty years of independence	p. 15
Inheritances of colonical rule	p. 17
The strength of the state apparatus	p. 18
The strength of the nationalist movements	p. 21
Nationalisms	p. 28
Politicians and bureaucrats in the first years of independence	p. 36
Controlling the military	p. 45
Jinnah and Nehru	p. 53
Secular state, Islamic state	p. 62
Institutionalizing democracy	p. 73
Representation and contested federalism	p. 73
Elections	p. 77
Freedom of association	p. 82
Press freedom	p. 83
The rule of law	p. 87
Who (really) governs?	p. 102
Ruling classes in the country and at the provincial level	p. 103
Ruling classes in local arenas	p. 113
From 1977 to the present	p. 129
1977 as a turning point?	p. 131
Pakistan	p. 132
India	p. 136
Religion as an explanation	p. 145
Islamization, Hindu nationalism	p. 146
Hindusim and Islam as systems of belief, and the effect on politics	p. 152
External influences	p. 162
Pakistan	p. 163
India	p. 170
Clearly diverging paths	p. 175
Entrenching military rule in Pakistan	p. 176
Deepening democracy in India	p. 182
Prospects for path convergence in the next decades	p. 200
Pakistan	p. 200
India	p. 216
Conclusion	p. 224
Bibliography	p. 236
Index	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.