Half Baked Ideas: Indian Democracy in Heterogeneous Times: Disenchantment, Coercion & History

Venue: Seminar Room, Australia India Institute, The University of Melbourne

Presenters: Mr Souresh Roy

Much of the political science literature dealing with Indian democracy alludes to its success and argues that democracy has taken deep roots within its polity. In order to account for the success of the democratic experiment in India, analysts have focused both on socioeconomic determinants as well as the manner in which distribution of power in the society is negotiated. However, very few have dealt with the question of Indian democracy in the context of modernity. What does the ‘human condition’ entail in modern times? This talk will engage with three specific ‘events’ in the contemporary history of India and try to shed light on certain concepts in relation to Indian democracy. Through a deeper analysis of the student uprising of 1968, the Emergency of 1975 and the demolition of the Babri masjid in 1992, it will try to delineate the notions of disenchantment, coercion and history as they play out in the body politic of the Indian nation in relation to modernity.

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/7182-half-baked-ideas-indian-democracy-in-heterogeneous-times-disenchantment-coercion