Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 The Evolution of the Liberal Idea
- 2 The Fundamentals of Liberalism
- 3 Historical Roots of South Asian Liberalism
- 4 Liberalism and Constitutionalism: Parliament and the Judiciary
- 5 The Market Economy and Welfare: An Introductory Note
- 6 Grassroots Capitalism: A Glimpse of the Unrecognised India
- 7 Empowering the Poor: A Liberal Approach to Education Reforms
- 8 Not by Religion Alone: Aspects of Pakistani Society
- 9 An Appraisal of Economic Liberalisation in Pakistan
- 10 Religion and Culture in the Liberal State
- 11 Social Freedom in the Liberal State
- 12 The Future of Liberalism in South Asia
- Select Bibliography
- Notes on Contributors
12 - The Future of Liberalism in South Asia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 The Evolution of the Liberal Idea
- 2 The Fundamentals of Liberalism
- 3 Historical Roots of South Asian Liberalism
- 4 Liberalism and Constitutionalism: Parliament and the Judiciary
- 5 The Market Economy and Welfare: An Introductory Note
- 6 Grassroots Capitalism: A Glimpse of the Unrecognised India
- 7 Empowering the Poor: A Liberal Approach to Education Reforms
- 8 Not by Religion Alone: Aspects of Pakistani Society
- 9 An Appraisal of Economic Liberalisation in Pakistan
- 10 Religion and Culture in the Liberal State
- 11 Social Freedom in the Liberal State
- 12 The Future of Liberalism in South Asia
- Select Bibliography
- Notes on Contributors
Summary
When Liberal Values for South Asia was published, way back in 1998, the future of democracy seemed reasonably secure in South Asia. India of course, except during the relatively brief period of the Emergency, had never really swerved from the path of democracy and the rule of law, and the preceding decade had shown how governments could change at the polls without extravagant rivalries or ill effects; but every other country in South Asia had suffered the rigours of authoritarianism, from which a few at least seemed to have moved into democratic systems during the nineties.
Though previous lapses in Sri Lanka had been less protracted than elsewhere, during the eighties the impact of the Jayewardene regime, and its efforts to guide democracy (on what its less authoritarian apologists presented as an East Asian model) had been tragically divisive. Though his efforts had been accompanied by what was seen as economic liberalism, the entrenched statist mentality had meant that little of the economy that had been taken into government hands was actually privatised. An open economy for Jayewardene only meant the encouragement of private business and trade, without the shrinking of the government sector or the opening up of the social sector, so that rent seeking became further entrenched. Insistence on continuing centralised control of government, with a growing economy, meant that disparities grew worse, and in the end the state had to deal with two youth insurgencies.
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- Liberal Perspectives for South Asia , pp. 218 - 226Publisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2009