Still Exceptional? India's Democracy in Comparative and Historical Perspective

Speaker: Ashutosh Varshney, leading political scientist and Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Professor of Political Science, Watson School of International and Public Affairs and Department of Political Science at Brown University

Moderator: Ms Yamini Aiyar, former President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research and the founder of the Accountability Initiative at CPR.

India’s democratic experiment has historically defied conventional theories by sustaining robust electoral, institutional, and civic practices despite deep diversity, economic challenges, and periodic stress. Does that democratic exceptionalism still exist? This talk situates India’s democratic evolution in global comparative history, examining its exceptional resilience and emerging fragilities