Thammasat University students are cordially invited to download a free Open Access book at this link that should be useful for readers interested in history, political science, law, regional studies, Asian studies, and South Asian studies, as well as politics and society in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
The Routledge Handbook of Autocratization in South Asia is edited by Professor Sten Widmalm, who teaches political science at the Department of Government, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Professor Widmalm has researched crisis management, political tolerance, democracy and conflicts from a global comparative perspective.
Autocratization, also known as democratic backsliding, democratic decay, and de-democratization, is a gradual decline in the quality of democracy and the opposite of democratization.
The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books about different aspects of autocracies.
Unless it is stopped, autocratization can results in governments losing democratic qualities, becoming autocracies or authoritarian regimes. Autocratization is caused by state-led weakening of political institutions that sustain the democratic system, such as the peaceful transition of power or free and fair elections.
Other essential elements of democracy such protecting individual rights, especially freedom of speech, also play essential roles.
Political scientists have noted that starting in 2001, autocracies have outnumbered democracies in the world. A so-called third wave of autocratization is occurring more rapidly and profoundly. This development may also lead to authoritarian regressions, revolutions, and hybrid regimes. Autocratization can occur especially when world leaders impose autocratic rule during states of emergency that are excessive in terms of the crisis being dealt with, or remain effective even after the conditions that were used as an excuse to impose them have been removed.
Professor Widmalm notes that advancing authoritarianism in South Asia has already affected nations such as India, which long claimed to be a democracy.
Understanding why democracy is weakening in the world’s most populous region is essential for preserving individual rights.
Some democratic improvements that previously occurred in South Asia have now been reversed. Some leaders cite cultural identity as a reason for favoring non-democratic actions.
The publisher’s description of the book follows:
This handbook offers a comprehensive analysis of the processes and actors contributing to autocratization in South Asia. It provides an enhanced understanding of the interconnectedness of the different states in the region, and how that may be related to autocratization. The book analyzes issues of state power, the support for political parties, questions relating to economic actors and sustainable economic development, the role of civil society, questions of equality and political culture, political mobilization, the role of education and the media, as well as topical issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental issues, migration, and military and international security. Structured in five sections, contributions by international experts describe and explain outcomes at the national level in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The final section analyzes conditions for democracy and autocratization and how they are affected by the interplay of political forces at the international level in this region.
- India – building an ethnic state?
- Pakistan – the decline of civil liberties
- Bangladesh – towards one-party rule
- Sri Lanka – the resilience of the ethnic state
- How to comprehend autocratization in South Asia – three broad perspectives
This innovative handbook is the first to describe and to explain ongoing trends of autocratization in South Asia, demonstrating that drivers of political change also work across boundaries. It is an important reference work for students and researchers of South Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Area Studies and Political Science.
The book was originally planned in reaction to
the rapid deterioration of democracy in India. However, the situation in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was on a similar trajectory. It was decided, therefore, that a Handbook on Autocratization in South Asia was needed, in order to catch, describe, and to explain the ongoing trends. Six months later the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, turning the situation from bad to worse in so many ways. Autocratization was mainly reinforced. As this foreword is being written, it seems the Covid situation for affluent democracies is about to improve. Yet democracy has suffered in those countries too. As for most parts of South Asia, and for India in particular, the COVID death rate there is still pointing upwards. There is no way to predict the effects of all this. Some speculate that authoritarian leaders will eventually be removed from power as a consequence of the pandemic in South Asia. One thing, however, is clear: a sharp focus on democratization and autocratization is needed more now than at any other time since independence. Once the pandemic has subsided, it will become more evident we have a new world order. Authoritarian China is now the most important power – not only in South Asia, but arguably also in the world. This will also decide the chances for the states studied in this book to get back on the democratic path once again.
A pronounced trend towards democracy in South Asia is now in reverse. Not long ago, the picture was different. India was on a steady climb in democracy ratings for decades. Economic liberalization, which was the hallmark of reforms led by finance minister Manmohan Singh in the 1990s under the premiership of Narasimha Rao, appeared to be compatible with giving more space for political competitors in a landscape which had long been dominated by the Congress party. India’s neighbours were gradually taking steps to follow its lead towards greater democracy. In the early 1990s, Bangladesh showed great promise with political and substantial liberalization reforms as Khaleda Zia became the first female prime minister. A long spell of military rule in Pakistan came to an end late in 2007. The tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto, just after she had returned from exile and taken the lead as the country’s most popular civilian leader, marked the beginning of a first peaceful transition towards democracy…
Nonetheless, this does not automatically translate into proof that the region called South Asia is irreversibly transitioning to authoritarian rule. These processes are rarely linear in either direction. All countries included in this book have traversed trajectories towards democracy that have been all but straightforward. Democracy has been interrupted, suspended, and seen such severe backlashes that made it seem implausible that it could recover, yet it did. So, the question is, how severe is the autocratization trend? What are its characteristics? How deep does it go? This book aims at providing answers to such questions, to enable realistic assessments of the chances for a democratic recovery in the foreseeable future.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)