Sustaining Democracy in South Asia

MUMBAI, India, Dec. 18, 2007 - Professor of Political Science and Sociology at Stanford University and founding Co-Editor of the Journal of Democracy Dr. Larry Diamond spoke to the Asia Society India Centre on "Sustaining Democracy in South Asia." Professor Diamond stated that democracies can only flourish when "they reside in a democratic neighbourhood," adding that "India's democracy is something of a miracle, especially with the fall of democracy in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and to some extent, Sri Lanka." However, he refrained from giving a clean bill of health to Indian democratic institutions, saying instead that "there is a tendency to romanticize Indian democracy," a tendency that ignores "growing insurgencies, corruption at the state level, and increasing political and religious violence."

Professor Larry Diamond, Stanford University

Diamond argued that in order for India to strengthen its democracy it has to "establish institutions that allow for horizontal accountability, like a counter-corruption commission that is set up on the lines of the election commission—independent of the election process and autonomous in its authority to check efficiency and punish corruption." He said that reforms in governance had to go hand in hand with "social and economic reforms," particularly targeted economic development to reduce gender inequality.

Professor Diamond also saw China emerging as a democracy in the coming years, basing this prediction on the fact that "30 years ago, people would say that India would go China's way, to the Maoists. But that did not happen." Instead, "20 years from now, China's political system will look like India's. Even if China were to sustain growth of six or seven percent, forget about eight or ten, there will be a massive upheaval in the coming years." Diamond concluded by saying that it was inconceivable that China will still be an authoritarian state in a few decades' time.

During his lecture, Professor Diamond also highlighted what he viewed as the ills affecting India's neighbors, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.

Larry Diamond is Professor of Political Science and Sociology at Stanford University, and coordinates the Democracy Program of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. During the first three months of 2004, Diamond served as a senior advisor on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. Drawing on that experience, he is currently writing and lecturing on the challenges of post-conflict state-building in Iraq. An advisor to the World Bank, the United Nations, the State Department, and other governmental and nongovernmental agencies dealing with governance and development, Diamond has taught and conducted research in 25 countries in the past 30 years. He has authored three books, including Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq, and edited several more.