Bringing the Armageddon: Carl Schmitt and Surging Nationalism in South Asia (original) (raw)

WORLD SCIENTIFIC (EUROPE) eBooks, 2022

Abstract

Contemporary global politics is witnessing a tectonic shift in ideas and discourses with political actors and national polities moving to the right. Strongman authoritarianism is on the rise in many nationstates. Demagogues are preying upon the primal fears of their people. The political context of South Asia is not unfamiliar to these political ideas, inasmuch as conservative nationalism has often trumped liberal notions of cultural and political pluralism. This chapter examines ascendant right-wing nationalisms in India and Pakistan with Narendra Modi and Imran Khan as their embodiment. It utilized Foucauldian discourse analysis as a methodology, and the theories of Carl Schmitt as a theoretical framework to deconstruct their political ideas. I show that in cultivating their nationalisms, both leaders articulate common ideas regarding the conception of the nation, sovereignty, and democratic institutions, which combine to increase the likelihood of violent confrontation.

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