Professor James Manor on Nehru and Liberal Democracy

The next meeting of the Ealing Branch of the Historical Association will feature a talk by Professor James Manor on the subject ‘The Debatable Resilience of Nehru’s Liberal Democracy in India’.

Under India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, a new constitution was adopted: a multi-party democracy based on universal suffrage. Notwithstanding concerns about the high levels of illiteracy among voters, Indian democracy survived whilst some other new nations resorted to military rule or dictatorship.

However, there have been challenges to that liberal democratic order - first under his daughter Indira Gandhi when she imposed a state of emergency in 1975. Despite the setback she suffered when losing the election that she had decided to call in 1977, the radically centralised system she had instituted prevailed for most of the period until 1989 when her party – then led by her son Rajiv – lost a national election. In the 25 years that followed, civil society re-established itself and democracy was restored.

Since 2014, when Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, Indian democracy has undergone another, more systematic assault. Power has again been radically centralised, and personal rule by a leader with an extravagant personality cult has been established. Nehru is constantly belittled, even demonised. Can Nehruvian liberal democracy be restored again?

James Manor is the Emeka Anyaoku Professor Emeritus of Commonwealth Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London.

His talk takes place on Tuesday 11 March from 7:30pm-9pm, at Ealing Green Church (W5 5QT).

All are welcome to attend . Members pay £15 per annum and for visitors a donation of £5 per talk is suggested with no payment expected from students.

Meetings are usually held on the second Tuesday of each month at Ealing Green Church at 7.30pm, with the exception of the November meeting which takes place at Twyford School at 6.30pm. Talks are live events but with the speaker’s permission the association aims to make a recording available afterwards to those registering on Eventbrite (the booking link will be available on the society's website one month in advance of each talk).

Programme to June 2025

8 April - Julia Boyd, author, ‘Off the beaten track: researching and writing social histories of the Third Reich'

13 May - Professor Rebecca Earle, University of Warwick, ‘What can you learn from a cookbook (other than how to cook)?’

10 June - Dr Ismini Pells, Oxford Department for Continuing Education, ‘Maimed Soldiers, War Widows and the Human Cost of the English Civil Wars: stories from the Civil War Petitions project’

For more details of the association’s programme of talks for the coming season visit its web site.

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