Majoritarian Nationalisms and Democracy challenges in South Asia: Implications and Responses

Abstract

The lecture aims to present an analytical framework for tracing the trajectories of nationalist discourses and challenges to democracy in South Asia. It also explores their multi-dimensional domestic and international implications, as well as socio-political responses.

The main focus will be on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. While each of these countries is a unique case study, their post-colonial legacies and other historical and contemporary socio-political factors allow for certain commonalities to be identified. The overall assumption is that in order to understand the global problem of rising majoritarianism, populism and nationalism with the threat they bring to a democratic, values-based world, we should provide and in-depth comparative analysis of the socio political trajectories and consequences of nationalist narratives in different countries.

Area based research allows these processes to be mapped, understood and contextualised within the contemporary global rise of nationalism and illiberalism. Hyper-nationalism, with its exclusivist references to both religion and non-religious beliefs, is an important element of the political agenda upheld by South Asian decision-makers. Identities based on religion have become a central platform for political mobilisation, leading to escalation-prone conflicting narratives and serving as an excuse to keep protracted rivalries boiling. At the same time, there is a noteworthy domestic resilience to these narratives. The research questions to be addressed:

• To what extent do majoritarian narratives, as reinforced by South Asian policymakers, follow similar trajectories?
• What is the role of the leadership in imposing the (new?) political agenda?
• Are the restrictions (censorship, media control, legal acts, etc.) imposed by the governments in these states comparable?
• What are the implications and (domestic and international) responses to the nationalist agenda?

The event will be held in presence, but it is also possible to access it online. To join, please click the button below and, if necessary, enter the code 294582.

Biographical Note

Dr. hab. Agnieszka Kuszewska-Bohnert (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)

Agnieszka Kuszewska-Bohnert is an Associate Professor at Jagiellonian University. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Lodz (German specialization).
Her PhD (2009) investigated conflict theory with Kashmir as a case study, and the habilitation took place at the Polish Academy of Science (2016) on contemporary history and radicalization processes in Pakistan.
She is a (co)-author of six monographs and many other publications, including research articles and expert analyses, and was a member of a Warsaw based think tank, the Poland- Asia Research Center from 2011-2018.
Her research is focused on international relations, power rivalry, contemporary international conflicts, security challenges in Asia-Pacific, human rights, India and Pakistan in international relations, geostrategic, political, socio-economic challenges of South Asia.

She is a member of the International Studies Association, the European Association for South Asian Studies, the Polish Association of International Relations, and a graduate of the UN Human Rights Council Training Program.
She was a visiting professor/scholar at universities in Pakistan, India, Germany, Estonia, and Latvia, and delivered guest lectures at the Tashkent State University of Economics in Uzbekistan, Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, Christian Forman College in Lahore, University of Latvia, Riga, Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement in Kathmandu, and others.