Customer Reviews

Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia: A Comparative and Historical Perspective (Contemporary South Asia)

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Pretty good comparative study of politics in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The author has some great insights on the similarities and differences between the (political) cultures of the different nations, and generally explains them well.

However, I found the author's writing style very taxing. Take this sentence:

"Unless capable of extending their voting rights beyond the confines of institutionalized electoral arenas to an effective struggle against social and economic exploitation, legal citizens are more likely to be the handmaids of powerful political manipulators than autonomous agents deriving concrete rewards from democratic processes" (48).

Or this one:

"If [General] Zia was the pious and humble Allah had chosen to pull Pakistani society out of the depths of moral turpitude, then Ishaq was responsible for charting the wilier aspects of the enobling turnaround." (101)

I have no problem with the jargon: to some extent, that is necessary in an academic work; but I question the need of the author to load a sentence with as many adjectives as she (?) possibly can.

Clearly an across the border perspective...

In analyzing the causes for Pakistan's failure to establish a legitimate government - she poses Pakistan as a "Victim" - writing off all the voluntary, disastrous decisions made by the elite leaders of the country, Jinnah included.

A completely unabashed, self-contradicting, not-facing-the-reality book blaming Pakistan's fate on Historical Determinism.

I would flinch to think of it as being "an academic book".