ABSTRACT
Democracy in South Asia has gathered considerable traction, bringing people directly into the sphere of politics. However, prospects for democracy in the region have been mixed. Apart from major structural constraints limiting the consolidation of democratic norms, a functional challenge has been the parallel occurrence of a democratic polity and illiberal societies in the sub-continent. While institutionally, democratic structures have largely remained weak to keep pace with the mobility of classes and social groups, primordial attachments like caste, religion and ethnic identities have also adapted themselves to the imperatives of political democracy. The correlation between democracy and peace also does not hold in this part of the world. Democracy has failed to shape the problems of militarization or ethnic and religious intolerance. In turn, the state has often tackled these problems with an iron fist. On the contours of South Asia, democracy has not been able to strengthen regionalism, while internally, it has failed to register peace. Democracy in South Asia, however, has been able to usher in a new vocabulary of politics – the politics of mobilization. The chapter argues that the future of South Asia in the coming decade hinges on the process of vertical democratization.
