Download South Asia after 1945

South Asia after 1945
March 27, 2014
Review
What is the difference between a totalitarian government
and an authoritarian government?
What was the impact on the Chinese economy of the
switch from an import-substitution economy to one that
was export oriented?
What was the Cultural Revolution?
What happened in China in Spring, 1989?
Is China still a Communist country?
South Asia
India
a democratic country with an economy that has been
growing rapidly since the early 1990s, and has also seen a rise
in Hindu nationalism.
Sri Lanka richest, best-educated country in South Asia but had
to endure violence between Sinhalese and Tamils for over 30
years (rival ethnic nationalisms with religious overtones).
Pakistan
off-and-on again democracy with little economic
growth. Product of Muslim nationalism
Bangladesh like Pakistan, off-and-on again democracy Even
poorer than Pakistan. Product of Bengali nationalism
Partition
In August, 1947, British India was split into Hindu India and Muslim
Pakistan. It was a violent separation, with a million or so killed, and
millions more turned into refugees. Hindus fled to India while
Muslims fled to Pakistan. (This is an example of communal
violence, violence between religious communities.) (p. 200)
Kashmir was (and still is) caught in the middle, claimed by India
because its ruler in 1947 was Hindu but also claimed by Pakistan
because the majority of the population is Muslim. (p. 201)
East Pakistan broke off from West Pakistan in 1971 (they had been
separated by 1,500 kilometres of Indian territory). It was not a
peaceful separation but led to the establishment of the new Muslim
country of Bangladesh. (p. 209)
Partitioning Mother India
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Partition_of_India.PNG
Notice where Kashmir is. Kashmir is also the place where India and China
fought a brief war in 1962.
Politics in modern South Asia
India has managed to preserve a democratic form of government (except
for 1975-77, when Indira Gandhi ruled as a dictator. She called an
election in 1977, and stepped down when she lost.) (p. 203) India has
had peaceful transfers of power.
Both Pakistan and Bangladesh, on the other hand, have endured an
alternation of civilian and military governments. Democracy is still quite
fragile in both countries. (p. 210-212)
Can we explain that difference? Here is a hint:
The business leaders of British India stayed mostly in India. Politics in
Pakistan and Bangladesh has been dominated by the representatives of
the traditional elite, usually great landowning families.
Important
Early
leaders of India
Gandhi--wanted India to remain a village society. He was
assassinated on Jan. 30, 1948 by a radical Hindu nationalist.
Nehru --he was a democratic socialist who wanted the state to control
the economy--under his rule (1947-1964), economic growth barely
kept up with population growth.
Indira Gandhi, Nehru’s daughter, was elected prime minister as
head of the Congress Party. Served in that post 1966-1977, and again
1980-84. In 1975 she threw out the constitution and ruled as a mild
dictator. Then she allowed a free election in 1977, lost, and stepped
down. She was elected again in 1980
She was assassinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards.
How has democracy survived
in India?
India has a per capita GDP of around $4,000/yr. and has only a 62.8%
literacy rate (about half of all adult women are illiterate).
Yet it is a functioning democracy, quite unlike Pakistan and Bangladesh
which have both endured many military coups.
Barrington Moore claims that Gandhi’s campaign against the British, as
well as the British treatment of local merchants, led to a nationalistic
alliance of peasants with the commercial classes, preventing the fascist
coalition from forming. Other give credit to experience with selfgovernment under British rule.
Also what local industry there was before 1947 was mostly in what now
is India. What is now Pakistan and Bangladesh was an agrarian
economy under the control of rich landlords.
End of Congress Domination
The Congress Party continues to be the only party with a national reach.
Indira Gandhi was replaced by her son Rajiv Gandi, but he was
assassinated by a Tamil Tiger in 1991. A few years later his Italian-born
widow, Sonia Gandhi, became the head of the party, though she never
assumed the post of prime minister. Now the general secretary of the
party is her son, the great-grandson of Nehru, Rahul Gandhi.
Congress is challenged by the BJP, a Hindu-nationalist party whose
most extreme elements say that Muslims (over 165 million live in India
and have been there for many generations) are not really Indians.
Congress runs the country now, but the BJP, which ruled the country
from 1998 to 20o4, is expected to win the next election, which will begin
in a few weeks.
Economic Growth in India
Nehru was a socialist who advocated centralized (government)
economic planning and import substitution. Foreign investment was
discouraged. Red tape (regulatory paper work) made even internal
investment difficult. The economy grew, but only a little faster than the
population did. (p. 206)
1991 -An economic crisis shocked India into changing economic
strategies. India started courting foreign investment, reducing red tape
for businesses, and encouraging export-oriented businesses. The
economy began to grow. Since 1992, the GDP as grown about 6% a
year through 2002 and picking up speed in more recent years, leading
to a annual growth of per-capita income of 4% up to 2002, and then a
doubling of per capita income between 2002 and 2009. It grew less
than 4% in 2013.
India compared with China
in per capital GNP through 2002
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_india_gdp.jpg
Women leaders
India --Indira Gandhi
Sri Lanka --widow of first prime minister became prime
minister herself (the first in the world) and then later her
daughter became the president.
Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto was prime minister twice, and
almost a third time
Bangladesh: the widow of one ruler and the daughter of
another have been alternating as prime minster since 1991.
Pakistan
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/pakistan_pol96.jpg
Pakistan
founder Jinnah dies in 1948
Constitutional government until 1958, when a general seized control
1971 After Bangladesh breaks away, Bhutto is elected president.
1973 the military overthrows Bhutto (they executed him in 1978).
1988 General in charge dies in a mysterious plane crash.
1988 Benazir Bhutto, daughter of the earlier president Bhutto, wins election, is thrown out by a judge,
wins again in 1993, but loses election in 1997.
1999 General Musharraf seizes power
2007 Benazir Bhutto assassinated while campaigning.
Benazir Bhutto’s husband chosen President and becomes first elected chief of state to serve a full
term (though after 2010 he handed over much of his power to the Prime Minister, from the same
party.)
Opposition Party won presidential election in 2013, giving Pakistan its 1st peaceful transfer of power.
Bangladesh
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/graphics/maps/bg-map.gif
Bangladesh
1970 An East Pakistan-based party wins a majority of seats in the Parliament. West
Pakistan rejects that result, resulting in civil war that split Pakistan in two.
1971 East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh under Sheikh Mujib
1975 Sheikh Mujib is assassinated and General Zia seizes power.
1978 Zia allows free elections.
1981 Zia is assassinated. Another army government takes over
1990 popular protests lead to democratic elections.
1991 and 2001 Zia’s widow elected prime minister
1996 Sheikh Mujib’s daughter is elected Prime Minister
2007 Both women are jailed for corruption. The army assumes control but Mujib’s
daughter wins Dec, 2008, election and has been in power ever since.
Birth of Bangladesh
In 1971, when the government of Pakistan, dominated by
people from West Pakistan, rejected the results of an
election which gave power to people from East Pakistan,
protests broke out in East Pakistan. The Pakistan army
attacked and killed thousands.
The US supported Pakistan because Pakistan was
helped US President Nixon arrange a trip to China.
Finally, India sent in troops and defeated the Pakistan
army, and Bangladesh became an independent country.
Sri Lanka
http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/srilanka.htm
also
http://delcity91.com/images1/lanka-india-2.jpg
South Asia, not Southeast Asia.
Sri Lanka
1956 Sinhalese is made the national language, offending Tamils.
1959 Prime Minister Bandaranaike is assassinated by a Buddhist
monk. His wife wins the next election.
1975 Name is changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka
1983 Tamil rebellion begins.
1994 daughter of Bandaranaike is elected president under a new
constitution, appoints her mother prime minister.
2001 opposition wins control of parliament
2005 opposition wins the presidency. Crushes Tamils in 2009
Sri Lankan Civil War
In 1983 Tamils (who are Hindus) were attacked in the capital
city by Sinhalese (who are Buddhists). In response, Tamils
mounted an armed rebellion to gain independence. That
rebellion lasted until 2009 and cost over 70,000 lives, most of
them in the final stages of the war. The final assault in 2009
was so brutal it cost a lot of innocent Tamil lives, and the
current government has been accused by some of war
crimes because of the way it conducted that final battle
against the Tamil Tigers.
The Tamil Tigers received a lot of financial support from the
Tamil community in Toronto.
Roots of violence
per capita GDP:
Sri Lanka
$6,500
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
$4,000
$3,100
$2,100
55%
57%
literacy
91%
62.8%
Could British colonial rule be responsible for the fact that
democracy has been stronger in South Asia than in China or in
most of Southeast Asia? (Did the French or the Dutch teach
democracy? What about the Japanese?)