Towards Grounding Differences: Review Essay on South Asian Comparative Constitutional Studies

Abstract

This essay reviews the development and growth of the field of South Asian comparative constitutional law by analyzing three pioneering scholarships published in the last ten years in the field: ‘Comparative Constitutionalism in South Asia’ (OUP, 2012, edited by Sunil Khilnani, Vikram Raghavan, and Arun Thiruvengadam), ‘Unstable Constitutionalism: Law and Politics in South Asia’ (Harvard University Press, 2015, edited by Mark Tushnet, and Madhav Khosla), and ‘Constitutional Resilience in South Asia’ (Hart Publishing, 2023, edited by Swati Jhaveri, Tarunabh Khaitan, and Dinesha Samararatne). The essay argues that the South Asian comparative constitutional field is slowly shifting towards a greater grounding of differences amongst the South Asian jurisdictions beyond India and Indian constitutional experience. Through a review of themes of resilience and backsliding in South Asia, the essay demonstrates that such a shift is welcomed as the South Asian experience requires plural explanation and theorization. South Asia both affirms and disturbs the existing categories of ‘democracy,’ ‘backsliding,’ and ‘resilience’. Grounding differences through immersive, contextual, and bottom-up comparison is the way ahead. 

Keywords: South Asia, South Asian Constitutionalism, Comparative Methodology, Democratic Backsliding, Democratic Crisis, Resilience