About the event
This paper, co-authored with Professor Wilfried Swenden at University of Edinburgh, lays out our understanding of majority nationalisms in South Asia. It reviews the rise of majority nationalism globally and links this to parallel debates on the rise of populism and the process of democratic backsliding, which some authors have also linked to the (crisis of) capitalism and the unfulfilled promise of economic globalization. It will identify similarities with and differences to the ‘Western’ interpretations and manifestations of majority nationalism, eg populism and populist leaders are not new phenomena in South Asia. Furthermore, in India, the rise of majoritarianism has also coincided with a deepening of the democratic base linked to the incorporation of non-dominant caste groups in the political process and the vernacularization of the media.
At the same time, majoritarianism has challenged the liberal attributes of democracy across the subcontinent. It has been used to cut back civil liberties, such as limiting the freedom of expression or association and to restrict citizen access to alternative sources of information. By framing opposition to majoritarian views as ‘anti-national’ in all three countries it has also sought to delegitimise the voice of political opposition. Therefore, the entrenchment of majoritarian nationalism has had important implications for the working and health of democracy in the subcontinent.
Our paper will identify channels which have been used to diffuse majority nationalism such as social media and the influence of the South Asian diaspora. It will conclude with a brief justification of our focus on 21st-century South Asia by linking contemporary debates/challenges back to the decisions taken at their birth.
How to attend
This is a hybrid event that takes place both on campus and online. If you would like to attend the event on campus, register via Eventbrite to book your place.
The event will take place at the Westminster Forum, Fifth Floor, 32–38 Wells Street, London, W1T 3UW.
If you would like attend the event online, please email the seminar convener, Dr Jac St John, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, at [email protected].
About the speaker
Dr Katharine Adeney is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Nottingham, and previously served as Director of the University's Asia Research Institute. Her principal research interests include majoritarianism in South Asia, especially India and Pakistan; ethnic conflict regulation and institutional design; the creation and maintenance of national identities; the politics of federal states, and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. She is currently co-authoring a monograph on Majoritarianism in South Asia with Professor Wilfried Swenden, building on their joint paper on whether India can be understood as a consociational democracy and her framework in Nations and Nationalism for assessing degrees of ethnic democracy in different countries, applied to India as a case study.
About the Centre for the Study of Democracy
The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), established in 1989, is based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. At the Centre, academics working in politics and international relations undertake socially engaged, methodologically diverse and often interdisciplinary research that aims to address a range of critical political challenges in relation to democracy worldwide. Find out more about the Centre on the CSD webpage.
