Competitive Authoritarianism and India’s Civil Society

As part of Asia Week 2024, the Carolina Asia Center and the Modern Indian Studies initiative are delighted to welcome Prof. Rahul Mukherji of Heidelberg University to speak on “Competitive Authoritarianism and India’s Civil Society.” This discussion will be moderated by UNC Assistant Professor of Political Science, Prof. Ashley Anderson.

Competitive authoritarian regimes have a janus faced characteristic. These regimes have some competitive and democratic features alongside totalitarian characteristics, which become more prominent over time. Consolidation of the authoritarian propensities can lead to a transition to autocracy. India’s competitive authoritarian state is one such. It has deployed many instruments to silence a vibrant civil society. This presentation will demonstrate why ethno-nationalism is the most important reason for the attacks by the Indian state on its civil society. Civil society actors who defend the secular constitution in the most determined manner pose a threat to ethnonationalists who seek to deploy Hindu nationalism as a way of undermining India’s democracy and its plural culture. The talk will review the literature on the relationship between competitive authoritarianism and attacks on civil society. It will then proceed to clarify the instruments through which the Indian state attacks civil society. Finally, it will discuss the attacks on 15 civil society organizations and social movements. Findings suggest that the ferocity of attacks are more pronounced against those actors that have sought to protect the rights of the Muslim minority. Like Erdogan’s deployment of Islam, Modi uses Hindu nationalism to unite the majority population by creating a scare regarding the minority Muslim population to promote his totalitarian goals.

Rahul Mukherji is Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany. His research interests include democratic recession, welfare and environmental politics and India’s foreign economic policies and globalization. Prior to arriving in Heidelberg, Mukherji taught at the National University of Singapore, Singapore, the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, Hunter College, New York and the University of Vermont, Burlington, United States. Mukherji edits ‘Indian Politics and Policy’ and serves on the board of journals as ‘India Review’, ‘Pacific Affairs and Governance’. He co-edits the Oxford Institutions and Development in South Asia book series. His books include ‘Globalization and Deregulation: Ideas, Interests and Institutional Change in India’, (Oxford University Press, 2014). Mukherji holds a Ph.D in Political Science from Columbia University.

Ashley Anderson is is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Government from Harvard University, and also holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University. Most recently, she served as a post-doc in the UNC Political Science department with funding from the Carolina Post-Doctoral Program for Faculty Diversity. A specialist in comparative politics, her research interests include contentious politics, authoritarian regimes, and political institutions.

In advance of the lecture, lunch will be served on the FedEx Global Education Center’s 4th floor, from 12:30pm. The lecture will start at 1pm. It is free and open to the public. RSVP for lunch here.