History / 22.09.2012

By Kabir Altaf Pankaj Mishra's new book From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia (FSG 2012) describes the Asian response to the colonial encounter.  The book covers the decades from the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of World War II.   Mishra argues that the West "has seen Asia through the narrow perspective of its own strategic and economic interests, leaving unexamined--and unimagined--the collective experiences and subjectivities of Asian peoples." His book does not attempt to replace this Eurocentric perspective with an Asia-centric one, but "seeks to open up multiple perspectives on the past and the present, convinced that the assumptions of Western power--increasingly untenable--are no longer a reliable vantage point and may even be dangerously misleading" (8).
Democracy/Governance, Governance, Politics, South Asia / 22.02.2008

It is useful to study the history of democracy in Japan to highlight an aspect that is almost completely overlooked in South Asia – the critical relevance of electoral rules. Japan is termed “the only stable industrialized democracy in Asia, with a well-established parliament, political parties that vigorously compete in elections, and a solidly legitimate democratic constitution.” It is a “predominant party democracy” in which the same party was consistently supported by voters under free and competitive conditions for a very long time (38 years). However, “the Japanese formula for a successful, dominant party democracy has had its negative effects – the role of excess money in politics and corruption.” All these aspects are related to electoral rules “since the electoral system is a major determinant of a political regime:” In many newly-emerging democracies the choice of an electoral system is increasingly being recognized as a vital element...