ABSTRACT
In 1975, all of the states in South Asia converged on non-democratic governance – a condition that lasted for 22 months. Today, once again, regimes in the area have been caught up in such a trajectory, resulting in what can be described as the second ‘non-democratic regime convergence’ since independence. The present situation was, apparently, predicted, almost three decades ago, by Samuel Huntington in his account of a coming Clash of Civilizations. Such cultural determinism fails, however, to account for the diversity which has characterized regime development in the region over seven decades. Nonetheless, as China today is offering strong incentives for the autocratization of South Asian regimes, several leaders in the area have taken to mimicking the cultural justifications for authoritarianism set out by Xi Jinping, in the hope thereby of gaining political legitimacy by other means than democracy.
