ABSTRACT
In the theorization and general discussion of democratization South Asia occupies a distinctive space. As events have demonstrated, in the popular imagination South Asia is commonly characterized as suffering from chronic political instability, protracted ethnic conflicts and the ever-present threat of nuclear war. Directly or indirectly, democratization has been central to the study of South Asian politics. Much of the analysis of South Asian politics has been preoccupied with the rise of ethno-national movements - in Kashmir, Punjab, and the North-Eastern States, the emergence of the Hindu right (India), Sindh (Pakistan) and the Tamil-Singhalese conflict (Sri Lanka). The impact of international developments is a recurrent theme in the literature on democratization in South Asia. The tensions between social pluralism and political majoritarianism that plague South Asian states are rooted in the political elites’ mindsets, which are singularly lacking in alternative visions of political reform.
