Harvard Government 20 Week 5 Handout 1

Government 20 Week 5, Lecture 1: Democratization in India and South Africa I. The Case of India A. Why India flies in the face of existing democratic theory: 1. Low modernization: poor, rural, 80 percent illiterate in the 1940s 2. Inegalitarian: caste system 3. Non-Protestant 4. Deep ethno-linguistic divisions B. Some factors supportive of democracy 1. Strong institutions (legacy of British colonialism) 2. Leadership and the role of the Congress Party 3. Diversity as a source of stability C. The story 1. Independence and the Nehru period: elite-led democratization with low popular participation 2. Change and Crisis in the 1970s i. The erosion of Congress hegemony ii. The rise of social mobilization and the 1975-77 State of Emergency 3. New challenges in the 1980s and 1990s i. Democratic deepening ii. The challenge of religious communalism II. The Case of South Africa A. The Apartheid regime: a racial oligarchy B. Failed democratization efforts in the 1950s: weak civil society and limited international pressure C. Changes in the 1970s and 1980s 1. Industrialization and the growth of civil society 2. Increased international isolation D. The regime in crisis (1984-1990): mass insurrection, international pressure and the vicious circle of repression, isolation, and crisis E. Negotiated transition to democracy (1990-94): leadership and political pacts Terms to Know Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Indira Gandhi The Indian National Congress (Congress party) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Apartheid Afrikaners The National Party P.W. Botha/F.W. De Klerk Nelson Mandela African National Congress (ANC) The Sharpeville Massacre (1960) and Soweto Rebellion (1976) Thabo Mbeki