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Abstract
This review examines Sundeep Waslekar’s "South Asian Drama: Travails of Misgovernance," published in 1995. It highlights the book’s central thesis that weak governance, entrenched elites, and policy incoherence have hampered South Asia’s development potential. The review summarizes key arguments, including case studies on corruption, mismanagement of resources, and the interplay of domestic politics with regional instability. It commends the author’s empirical grounding while also questioning whether the analysis underestimates grassroots resilience and reform capacity. The review concludes that the book remains a valuable contribution to debates on governance in South Asia.
Full Text
The review begins with an outline of the book’s structure and main arguments, situating it in the literature on governance and development. Section One summarizes the author’s critique of elite-driven politics and institutional decay in South Asia. Section Two highlights empirical cases of misgovernance in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, analyzing how corruption, rent-seeking, and weak accountability mechanisms undermine growth. Section Three discusses the book’s prescriptions, including greater transparency, decentralization, and civic engagement, while reflecting on feasibility. The conclusion evaluates the book’s enduring relevance, noting that many of the governance challenges it identified continue to shape South Asian politics decades later.