2023 South Asia Conference: Democracy, Rights and Development

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South Asia is home to more than a quarter of the world’s population. While the region has witnessed considerable democratic expansion and consolidation, democracy has sometimes been in tension with rights and development. India has witnessed majoritarian tendencies in politics and increased anti-Muslim violence in recent years. Non-Hindus in democratic Nepal could not access basic rights for many years. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan have all struggled to protect the rights of impoverished minority groups.

Join the Keough School for the 2023 South Asia Conference to hear insights on how and when democracy and rights intersect to enhance human development, and when these factors may be in tension with broader development goals. 

Presented by the South Asia Group, part of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies within the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. Support also comes from the Keough School’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies and Pulte Institute for Global Development as well as the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, part of the University of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters.  

Schedule

8:15 – 9:00 a.m.
Continental breakfast

9:00 – 10:15 a.m. 
Panel 1: The Role of Unelected Officials in Democracy, Rights and Development 
Speakers: Pradeep Chhibber, Madhav Joshi, Karuna Nundy

10:15 – 10:45 a.m.
Coffee

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m
Panel 2: Disease, Democracy and Development
Speakers: Kellogg Faculty Fellow Santosh Kumar, Ghazala Mansuri, Prerna Singh

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Lunch

Photo: “Proof of voting” by Al Jazeera English is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.