Democracy as public reasoning

The tradition of argument still shapes Indian society, culture and politics. It makes heterodoxy (holding many different views) seem natural.

This is often missed when Indian democracy is credited simply to British influence. Many other former colonies did not become democracies.

Public reasoning, open discussion of public matters, is linked to the roots of democracy everywhere. India's long tradition of it made this link especially strong.

India, the first non-Western country to adopt a firmly democratic constitution, drew both on Western institutions and on its own tradition.

Sen warns against two pitfalls: thinking that democracy is simply a Western gift, or that India is uniquely suited to it. Democracy rests on public discussion, which every part of the world has known. Democracy is government by discussion.