October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4
Though justly vaunted as the world’s largest democracy, India will in all likelihood remain reluctant to take on the mantle of “democracy promoter” for a mix of historical, ideological, and strategic reasons.
October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4
When it comes to backing democracy and human rights in international forums, the behavior of the world’s six most influential rising democracies ranges from sympathetic support to borderline hostility.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
Despite India’s impressive achievements in democracy, economic development, and the rule of law, it remains home to a third of the world’s poor. Although it has successfully averted famine since independence, it still struggles to prevent chronic hunger.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
Must every state be a nation and every nation a state? Or should we look instead to the example of countries such as India, where one state holds together a congeries of “national” groups and cultures in a single and wisely conceived federal republic?
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
How do democracies deal with the deep divisions created by race, ethnicity, religion, and language? The cases of Canada, India, and the United States show that democratic institutions—notably, competitive elections and independent judiciaries—can bridge divides and build stability, but they must find a way to manage the tension between individual and group equality.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
While we have witnessed many transitions to multiparty systems, it has proven much harder for countries to attain a genuine rule of law. We need to know more about the origins of the rule of law in order to promote it successfully today.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Indian voters pulled off a surprise by allowing the Congress party to retain power at the head of a more coherent coalition that is far less dependent on a congeries of small regional parties.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Democracy in India remains robust, but the scope and intensity of the corruption that pervades the political system are steadily eroding public trust.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
A review of India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha and The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence and India's Future by Martha C. Nussbaum.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
While the people of South Asia, especially those with higher levels of education and exposure to the media, prefer democracy to authoritarianism, they are willing to relax some of the requirements of liberal democracy.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
By most theoretical accounts, Indian democracy should not even exist. Yet, despite serious challenges, it shows signs of enduring and even deepening.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
So far, economic liberalization and globalization have not served to undermine India's democracy. Indeed, they may even be strengthening it.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
Pervasive corruption hampers India's democracy, yet anticorruption movements may be helping to improve governmental accountability.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
India's courts have been playing a growing role in the country's political life. Yet even as judicial interventions have become more sweeping, the principles undergirding their legitimacy have become less clear.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
To everyone's surprise, the Congress party defeated the incumbent BJP in the April-May 2004 parliamentary elections. What caused this political turnaround, and what will be its effects?
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Creative Hindu responses to modern challenges are a crucial part of the democratic story in India, yet Hindus must guard against those who would politicize Hindu identity.
October 2003, Volume 14, Issue 4
The principled separation of religious from political claims upon which Indian democracy depends may not be dead, but it is ailing badly. How did things reach this pass, and what is the prognosis for recovery?
October 2003, Volume 14, Issue 4
A review of The Deadly Ethnic Riot by Donald L. Horowitz and Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India by Ashutosh Varshney.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
The Editors’ introduction to “South Asia Faces the Future.”
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
Over the last two decades, India has gone through a series of peaceful revolutions-in society, in economic life, and in the political system-that have strengthened Indian democracy and given it a basis on which to thrive in decades to come.
