This article explores the complicated relationship between Hinduism and Democracy. It argues that modern Hinduism proved receptive to democratic ideals because democracy provided one plausible solution to the riddle of authority that beset Hinduism in the course of attempts to reform it. The article describes the ways in which Hindu nationalism poses a threat to democracy, and the resources Hindus can draw upon to resist this threat.
About the Author
Pratap Bhanu Mehta is president of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and a member of the global faculty of the New York University School of Law. He has taught at Harvard and Jawaharlal Nehru universities, and is author of The Burden of Democracy (2003).
Whether ethnic, sectarian, or some combination of the two, communalsim is one of the massive realities of Middle Eastern life and politics. It is usually seen as an obstacle to…
The illiberal credo prominent in Russia’s foreign policy is more than just a clever political ploy. Rather, this outlook reflects the traumatic experience of the 1990s, and it is stoked…
