The Paradoxes of Democratic Transition in the Periphery: A Comparison between the Countries in South Asia

The process of democratisation in the nations in the periphery of Asia, Africa, and Latin America has been suffering from enormous setbacks of huge human woes, corruption, collusions, nepotism, economic dependency on foreign debt, economic collapse, absence of political freedom of political workers, and dominant role of the military in politics. Lack of democratic culture among students and political elites, underdeveloped political institutions, and an absence of a self-governing civil society are the limitations of the political process in these countries. These paradoxes in democracy on the periphery have caused widespread disillusionment with democratic processes where the level of trust in politicians has dropped significantly. In this milieu, the countries of South Asia have a similar overall pattern of problems in their political process. This paper has proposed the paradoxes and legacies of democratic transition in these periphery countries of South Asia, projecting their future prospect of survival in the political process. This paper is following the qualitative method along with a comparative analysis. The collection of data has followed mostly secondary sources from different types: a number of literatures and related research findings and suggestions and recommendations of theorists, academics, politicians, statesmen, and civil society to identify the socio-economic and political parameters affecting the political process and political transformation of these nations.