Who dare put democracy on trial? The right one to do so - the citizen from a developing country - India, the world's largest democracy.
Born and brought up in India, I also lived in China for about three years. The book is a bottom up perspective, from the viewpoint of a citizen – in terms of what alternate political models deliver in reality and not just what they should ‘in theory’. Although it is based on scientific research and not anecdotal personal experiences, I believe, there is a reality check that living in a country brings versus pure academic analysis.
Before starting on this book, much like the rest of the world, I too considered democracy as “a given” subscribing to the circular logic, that democracy is the right thing because it is the right thing. An argument with a student from Singapore about 12 years back opened my mind to at least questioning the ‘taken for granted’ assumptions behind democracy’s supposed superiority to all other models under all socio economic contexts. I started viewing the unfolding world events from this new perspective. And for the last 6 years researching and writing became my life. Prior to this I had worked in marketing and Marketing Research but all that took a beating as I immersed myself in studying political history of about 150 nations.
Researching and writing this book helped me change many of my beliefs and assumptions and I hope it helps change some for the readers too!
Born and brought up in India, I also lived in China for about three years. The book is a bottom up perspective, from the viewpoint of a citizen – in terms of what alternate political models deliver in reality and not just what they should ‘in theory’. Although it is based on scientific research and not anecdotal personal experiences, I believe, there is a reality check that living in a country brings versus pure academic analysis.
Before starting on this book, much like the rest of the world, I too considered democracy as “a given” subscribing to the circular logic, that democracy is the right thing because it is the right thing. An argument with a student from Singapore about 12 years back opened my mind to at least questioning the ‘taken for granted’ assumptions behind democracy’s supposed superiority to all other models under all socio economic contexts. I started viewing the unfolding world events from this new perspective. And for the last 6 years researching and writing became my life. Prior to this I had worked in marketing and Marketing Research but all that took a beating as I immersed myself in studying political history of about 150 nations.
Researching and writing this book helped me change many of my beliefs and assumptions and I hope it helps change some for the readers too!
