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India is heralded as the world's largest democracy. Yet, in recent years there has been growing alarm about its democratic health. To Kill a Democracy gets to the heart of the matter.
Combining poignant life stories with sharp scholarly insight, it rejects the belief that India was once a beacon of democracy but is now being ruined by the destructive forces of populism. Democracy, the authors argue, is much more than government based on elections. Instead, they pay special attention to the social emergency confronting Indian democracy. In compelling fashion, they describe daily struggles for survival and explain how great social injustices rob Indian elections of their meaning, while at the same time feeding the decadence and iron-fisted rule of its governing institutions. Much more than a book about India, To Kill A Democracy argues that what is happening there is globally important, and not just because every second person living in a democracy is an Indian. It shows that when democracies rack and ruin their social foundations they don't just kill off the spirit and substance of democracy. They lay the foundations for despotism.
