CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA: ITS IMPLICATIONS AND A SUGGESTED MODEL FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

Abstract

South Asia, with its rich geo-strategic, geo-political, geo-demographic and geo economic importance is destined to be the hub of any future global power balance and prosperity. While the West flourishes on technology, it is Africa, Australia and West Asia, which sit on resources which drive the growth engines of west. But, it is South and South East Asia, including China, which has the human capital to affect productivity and consumption to complete the economic cycle. Unfortunately the nations of South Asia, besides being fragmented and impoverished, also remain the most volatile and exploited, owing to absence of rule of law. As a consequence, the nations and the region as a whole remain mired in a plethora of variants of civil disobedience and disorder movements. Good governance is an unavoidable imperative, not just for the nations but the region and the world itself.

South Asian nations gained their independence from the colonial masters through a revolutionary nonviolent process of civil disobedience, although the actual process got mired in devastating violence of catastrophic proportions due to partition, post-independence. Consequently, the psychological buildup of the nations is revolutionary and scarred with mistrust, often tending to violence and disorder. Good governance in South Asia cannot be optimised if its plurality, social vibrancy and psychological construct are not addressed. It is therefore vital; to adopt a rule based liberal and inclusive democratic governance, on a platform of greater tolerance and patienceto prevent self-implosion.

The key driver of disorder in the region is the creation of manmade faultlines through partition, accentuated by social, political and economic inequity. Needless to emphasise that the strategy or the ends, means and ways need to be built on a “South Asian Model” of graduated transformation to rule of law, which does not fire revolutionary psyche of the people. Also, it needs to be ensured that besides addressing the national diversity, regional spillovers are addressed concurrently, since the deep mistrusts can manifest into trans-border conflicts. Thus, principles and processes of good governance need to be suitably tweaked and prioritised within the individual countries as well as a regional neighbourhood as a whole.