Democracy and Development in India
June 29 to July 3 (9.00 am - 11.00 am)
- 10 hour course by Prerna Singh (Brown University) at the Barcelona Summer School in Global Politics, Development and Security
India is the world’s largest democracy. The establishment and survival of democracy in such a highly diverse, poor, unequal and illiterate country flies in the face of most conventional theories of democratization. Yet in as much as democracy in India is hailed as a triumph, critical human development challenges loom. Despite a rise in economic growth in recent years, India’s social indicators remain abysmal. India has the world’s largest number of malnourished children. It is home to almost 40% of the world’s total illiterates. This course analyzes these key questions of democracy and development with a focus on a wave of important new scholarship on these topics.