Has India’s Democratic Exceptionalism Ended?

You’re invited to join Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Brown University, for a Global Challenges to Democracy Seminar.

Democratic theorists worldwide have long recognized India’s democracy as historically exceptional. Consider what some of the leading scholars of democracy have written over the years. As early as 1966, Barrington Moore (Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy) observed: “At the time of Nehru’s death in 1964, political democracy had existed for seventeen years. If imperfect, the democracy was no mere sham.” Five years later, Robert Dahl (Polyarchy, 1971) described India as “a deviant case … indeed a polyarchy,” a view he discussed more authoritatively in his later magnum opus, Democracy and Its Critics (1989), calling India “a leading contemporary exception” to democratic theory. Finally, reflecting on India’s democratic durability, Adam Przeworski et al. (Democracy and Development, 2001) noted that “the odds against democracy in India were extremely high.”

What explains India’s democratic exceptionalism? And has that exceptionalism ended over the past decade, as India has increasingly come to be viewed as a significant case of democratic backsliding internationally? Based on his recent writings, Varshney will address these two questions.

Lunch will be served. This event will be recorded.

Office Hours

In addition to this event, interested Harvard faculty, fellows, and students can sign up for office hours to meet with Ashutosh Varshney. Slots are first come, first served and are available from 2:00 – 4:00pm on November 19th.

Sign up for office hours.

About the Series

In the span of a few years, democracy has gone from a likely, if distant, destination for much of the world to a far more tenuous prospect. This seminar series, co-chaired by Professors Yanilda María González and Gautam Nair and hosted by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, delves deep into the various challenges, both internal and external, that stand in the way of building more accountable, responsive, and capable democracy. Leading scholars of politics provide insights using a wide variety of methods and expertise in countries from across the globe.

Event Details