After the "Second Wave of Democracy", the South Asian region has also witnessed the establishment of democracies in countries like India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Since then, the roots of democracy in South Asia have strengthened, making it a central site for debates around freedom, resistance, and democracy in the developed world where democracy had been strengthening in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution and gradually reached to universal suffrage.
From anti-colonial struggles to post-colonial state-building and grassroots movements to global influences, the region provides fertile ground for examining how democracy has evolved in its present shape. This panel seeks to critically review and analyse the theoretical and practical dimensions of freedom, resistance, and democracy in South Asia, emphasizing their interconnectedness, contradictions, and contemporary relevance.
Objectives:
(i) To investigate how notions of freedom have been shaped by and have influenced colonial, postcolonial, and neo-colonial contexts.
(ii) To examine resistance movements against political, social, and economic inequalities in the region, including feminist, environmental, caste, subaltern and ethnic struggles; and
(iii) To criticize the functioning and challenges of democracy in South Asia, particularly in light of rising authoritarianism, populism, and human rights concerns.
Paper proposals/abstracts are invited on the following topics but not restricted to:
(i) The Legacy of Freedom Struggle and Democracy
(ii) Freedom and Human Rights
(iii) Ethnic Struggles and State
(iv) Electoral Politics and the Role of Identity in Shaping Democratic Processes.
(v) Social Movements and State-building
(vi) Feminist Movement
(vii) Subaltern Movement
(viii) Populism, Authoritarianism, and Democracy.