A. Jeyaratnam Wilson – författare

The chapters in this volume analyse issues relating to political governance, national identity, economic development and regional security that have preoccupied the states of South Asia in the fifty years following independence.

This book was first published in 1975. The process of electing governments and replacing them in a peaceful and constitutional manner has characterised Ceylonese politics since 1947. Against the background of Ceylon's political development, Professor Wilson presents a detailed description and analysis of the events and aftermath of the General Election of 1970. The contest was between two almost equally balanced coalitions led by influential rival politicians. More significantly the Election brought about the final stages of the socialisation of Ceylon's traditional Marxist parties into the parliamentary process. Professor Wilson's analysis also takes account of the position of the educated elites, the process of modernisation and the political implications of a stagnant and traditional economy. this book will be a lively and informative addition to the literature on the political evolution of emergent states and will be of interest to a wide range of political and social scientists, and specialists in South Asian studies.

This text discusses the principal political and constitutional questions that have arisen in the states of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka following fifty years of independence. In Sri Lanka the pressing problems have been around the inter-ethnic civil war, experiments with constitutional designs, widespread prevalence of corruption and the recrudescence of Buddhist militancy. In India it has been corruption, Hindu nationalism and general political instability. In Bangladesh and Pakistan it has been the role of the military, the state and religion. A general theme is an analysis of the malaise that is prevalent and how and why this was inherited, despite the colonial legacy of parliamentary democracy, the steel framework of a trained bureaucracy, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.