Is the future of Indian Democracy secure?
Seminar/Forum
Room 202, Level 2
Melbourne Law School
185 Pelham Street
 be stemmed?
This seminar is presented by visiting speaker Dr Niranjan Sahoo (Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, Delhi), followed by commentary from Associate Professor Tom Daly (Melbourne School of Government).
Light refreshment will be available from 12.30pm.
This event is cohosted by Electoral Regulation Research Network, Asian Law Centre and Melbourne School of Government.
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With an electorate bigger than the total population of Europe and United States of America, India’s democratic journey has no parallel. Organising fairly credible elections of phenomenal scale stretching for more than seven decades in a large country with widespread poverty and mass illiteracy has baffled theorists of democracy. Except for the national emergency in 1975-77, wherein democracy was suspended for 18 months, India has admirably maintained its democratic journey. However, developments in recent years - particularly rising tides of attacks on minorities, growing majoritarianism, sharpening polarisation, culture of intolerance, attacks on independent institutions among others - have considerably impacted the quality of democracy in the country. The recent decisions of the National Democratic Alliance government led by Narendra Modi to unilaterally end the special constitutional status of the only Muslim-majority state Jammu and Kashmir and passage of controversial citizenship law that discriminates Muslims, leading to country wide protests, have made political observers worry about future of world’s largest democracy. With the main political opposition in completely disarray and media and civil society under vicious attacks, India’s democracy is gradually choking. Can this alarming trend of decline (very well captured by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index) be stemmed?
This seminar is presented by visiting speaker Dr Niranjan Sahoo (Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, Delhi), followed by commentary from Associate Professor Tom Daly (Melbourne School of Government).
Light refreshment will be available from 12.30pm.
This event is co-hosted by Electoral Regulation Research Network, Asian Law Centre and Melbourne School of Government.
Presenters
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Associate Professor Tom Daly, Deputy DirectorAssociate Professor Tom Daly
Deputy Director
Melbourne School of Government
Tom is Deputy Director of the University of Melbourne School of Government, where he spearheads the School's 'Renewing Democracy' research stream, and Director of the global online research platform Democratic Decay & Renewal (DEMDEC: www.democraticdecay.org). His research focuses primarily on the health of liberal democracy worldwide, and current policy work includes involvement as an expert in the Australian Senate Inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy, and membership of the International Coalition for Democratic Renewal. Recent publications include an article, ‘Democratic Decay: Conceptualising an Emerging Research Field’ in the Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, and a monograph, The Alchemists: Questioning Our Faith in Courts as DemocracyBuilders (Cambridge University Press, 2017). As a consultant, he has managed a $4.7m Council of Europe project on judicial ethics in Turkey, designed a pancontinental African Judicial Network for the African Union, advised politicians in Lebanon on constitutional reform, and was Senior Consultant on an official review of data interception legislation in Ireland in 2016. He tweets @DemocracyTalk.
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Dr Niranjan Sahoo, Senior FellowDr Niranjan Sahoo
Senior Fellow
Observer Research Foundation
Dr. Niranjan Sahoo is a Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, a leading think tank in New Delhi. With years of expertise in governance and public policy, Dr Sahoo now leads studies and programmes on democracy, electoral reforms, insurgencies and governance among other. A recipient of Ford Asia Fellowship (2009) and a former Sir Ratan Tata Fellow (2010), Dr Sahoo currently serves a member for the Carnegie Rising Democracies Network, Washington, D.C. His forthcoming book is on Funding India's Democracy by Routeldge, London. His work on polarisation in India (titled "Hindu Nationalism and rising political polarisation in India") was recently published by The Brookings Press. (https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/09/24/democraciesdividedglobalchallengeofpoliticalpolarizationpub79753)