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Bliss and Foreboding: We Could Be Past Liberal Democracy’s Finest Hour, Leaving Our Children Less Free Than Us
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Bliss and Foreboding: We Could Be Past Liberal Democracy’s Finest Hour, Leaving Our Children Less Free Than Us

Despite recent threats to liberal democracy in both India and the United States, author Gautam Adhikari highlights the impressive positive developments of the past 75 years as reason for optimism.

At a time when the world is a rocky place and global society may be drifting into stormy waters, it seems odd to talk about good tidings. Yet, while worries mount over the future of democracy and the spread of discord worldwide, there’s reason to feel cautiously pleased if we take a closer look at what’s been happening in the past three quarters of a century.

Yes, democratic stability in many nations is under threat. Intolerance is not only rising, it appears to be increasingly acceptable in mainstream socio-political discourse. In the world’s two most populous democracies, the US and India, the possibility of liberal democracy being supplanted by pseudo-democracy in the foreseeable future can’t be ruled out.

The above excerpt was originally published in The Times of India. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Gautam Adhikari

Senior Fellow