Pluralism and Democracy in India

Pluralism and Democracy in India
Author: Wendy Doniger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2015-02-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199380937

Download Pluralism and Democracy in India Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Wendy Doniger and Martha Nussbaum bring together leading scholars from a wide array of disciplines to address a crucial question: How does the world's most populous democracy survive repeated assaults on its pluralistic values? India's stunning linguistic, cultural, and religious diversity has been supported since Independence by a political structure that emphasizes equal rights for all, and protects liberties of religion and speech. But a decent Constitution does not implement itself, and challenges to these core values repeatedly arise-most recently in the form of the Hindu Right movements of the twenty-first century that threatened to destabilize the nation and upend its core values, in the wake of a notorious pogrom in the state of Gujarat in which approximately 2000 Muslim civilians were killed. Focusing on this time of tension and threat, the essays in this volume consider how a pluralistic democracy managed to survive. They examine the role of political parties and movements, including the women's movement, as well as the role of the arts, the press, the media, and a historical legacy of pluralistic thought and critical argument. Featuring essays from eminent scholars in history, religious studies, political science, economics, women's studies, and media studies, Pluralism and Democracy in India offers an urgently needed case study in democratic survival. As Nehru said of India on the eve of Independence: ''These dreams are for India, but they are also for the world.'' The analysis this volume offers illuminates not only the past and future of one nation, but the prospects of democracy for all.

Minorities and Populism – Critical Perspectives from South Asia and Europe

Minorities and Populism – Critical Perspectives from South Asia and Europe
Author: Volker Kaul
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3030340988

Download Minorities and Populism – Critical Perspectives from South Asia and Europe Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This volume assembles renowned scholars to address, for the first time, the relationship between minorities and populism in South Asia and Europe from a critical perspective. Despite the very different and to some extent opposite historical and political trajectories, there is today a convergence on nationalist affirmation and on majoritarian politics between South Asia and Europe. In India, the Hindu majority rebels against wide-ranging minority rights anchored in the Constitution. In Europe, the refugee crisis and Islamic radicalization bring to the forefront the postcolonial legacy. Despite all rhetoric, there are obvious dangers of majoritarianism. Populist parties are divisive, partisan, disregard minority rights, engage in lynching, social division, stigmatization and exclusion, turning minorities into second-class citizens. There is a profound structural connection between minorities and the current rise of populism in India and Europe. But there remains a deep perplexity and also anxiety: Does the presence of minorities necessarily have to trigger majoritarian policies? Are there no solutions to this dilemma? Many observers considered multicultural policies and affirmative action programs in India as a possible model for Europe to adopt in order to achieve greater integration. But eventually they seem to have failed. Why so? Are multiculturalism and the recognition of differences still options today? On the other hand, most scholars in India typically reject the European model of liberal democracy and secularism as impracticable in India and locate the reason for the current malaise in the west. But is liberal democracy really so bad in dealing with pluralism? This volume, collecting a selection of the Reset DOC Venice-Padua-Delhi dialogue series, is going to answer two fundamental questions. First, what precisely is the nexus between minorities and populism in South Asia and Europe? Starting from those case studies, the authors will also draw some general theoretical inferences about the nature of populism. Secondly, given the dangers of populism for minorities, the volume will look for the most adequate and feasible solutions.

Minorities in a Democracy

Minorities in a Democracy
Author: Humayun Kabir
Publisher:
Total Pages: 110
Release: 1968
Genre: Democracy
ISBN:

Download Minorities in a Democracy Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Democracy and Cultural Diversity

Democracy and Cultural Diversity
Author: Michael O'Neill
Publisher:
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2000
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Download Democracy and Cultural Diversity Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book is a study of how some of the world's leading democratic states have responded to the challenge of territorial or sub-national movements seeking to increase the salience of cultural differences--ethnic, linguistic, and regional identity--on the national agenda. International experts explore the various ways that cultural differences have acquired political significance and how these are managed by democratic states in every region of the world.

Identities and Rights

Identities and Rights
Author: Gurpreet Mahajan
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 208
Release: 1998
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Download Identities and Rights Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book discusses pertinent and contentious issues such as the relationship of religious communities and state, minority rights, secularism and reservations in the context of democratic politics. Interrogating popular representations of India and beliefs about liberal democracy, it makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing intellectual debates on India and political theory in general.

Democratic Accommodations

Democratic Accommodations
Author: Peter Ronald deSouza
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic India
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2019-09-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9789388414555

Download Democratic Accommodations Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Democratic Accommodations: The Minority Question in India analyses the complex story of the accommodation of claims, interests and rights of minorities in India. It aims at what India-being one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse nations of the world-can offer to other nations, particularly to the countries of Europe that are confronted with ethnocultural and ethno-religious assertion. The authors have endorsed the argument that all plural democracies-and all democracies can only be plural in the present historical conjuncture despite the attempts by regimes to make them majoritarian-must work out their own strategies of accommodation by evolving a policy matrix that is suited to the dynamics of their own societies. The book is organised along four rubrics-laws, institutions, policies and political discourse-to understand Indian democracy's distinct response to diversity. The rich and nuanced exploration of the Indian approach to the minority question presented in this book will advance the international debate on diversity and multiculturalism and help policymakers in pluralistic democracies to develop their own particular strategies to deal with minority claims.

Democracy and the Limits of Minority Rights

Democracy and the Limits of Minority Rights
Author: Nalini Rajan
Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Limited
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2002-10-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780761996750

Download Democracy and the Limits of Minority Rights Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

At the start of the 21st century, we are still debating various fundamental issues pertaining to core human values, popularly known as 'human rights'. Constituting an important contribution to the debate, the central purpose of this book is to demonstrate the essential link between human rights and democracy. Nalini Rajan maintains that human rights can flourish only in a state which promotes the democratic value of equal consideration of individual autonomy - i.e., each person's capacity to act independently. Taking up various important issues and concepts like multiculturalism, citizenship, economic rights, and the right to a certain quality of life, Nalini Rajan argues that minority rights are not the only way to counter majoritarianism. She also advocates structural and constitutional changes to render the Indian polity more federal, particularly through devolution and local self-governance.

Nation and Minorities

Nation and Minorities
Author: Akhtar Majeed
Publisher:
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2002
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Download Nation and Minorities Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Contributed articles.