Pranab Bardhan on the two largest democracies

Upcoming Challenges for Two of the Largest Democracies Towards the end, he says “But, unfortunately, the corrosive effects of majoritarian ethnic nationalism may outlast any possible changes in elections or leaders. This is because they are partly rooted in deeper social changes in these transitional societies. ” The second sentence does not see consistent with the first. Later, he expresses the hope “But ultimately the survival of some minimum quality of democracy in both countries may depend less on firmly-held secular or liberal values, which are often quite shallow in the general population in spite of a long history of syncretic folk traditions, and more on the extreme social heterogeneity and divisions at all levels in both countries. The latter can, paradoxically, act as a kind of limited insurance against a long reign of intolerance or the predominance of any particular sect or creed. Social diversity can, at least up to a point, serve as a bulwark against the politics of exclusivity.” Diversity is supposed to decrease social capital ( studies of Robert Putnam and others) but may be centuries of practice helps in survival. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-diversity-create-distrust/