ABSTRACT
The political culture of South Asia has been deeply affected by the transformation of traditional social structures through modernisation and political mobilisation. This chapter presents an analysis of its main components and the variations across South Asian states which has focused on some questions. The questions are how the South Asian societies acquire political attitudes, how they differ in the process of socialisation among different states of the region, and which impact these have on the political environment in the respective states. The political and legal transformations in India have served to politicise those identities based on caste, religion and language. The mobilisation and justification based on Muslim identity and the question of Islam's role within the state has served the military as well as civilian agents, both in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Sri Lanka, ethno-religious identities and the rift between the majority and the minorities have served as the basis for political identities.
