Saffron Ethnocracy: conceptualising ethnocracy in India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka

Abstract

ABSTRACT Myanmar’s political system during the 2010–2021 period shares much in common with the political systems of neighbouring India and nearby Sri Lanka, and so this article identifies all three as ethnocratic, arguing these polities represent a variation of ethnocracy which leans authoritarian and is specifically Islamophobic. This article builds on discourse about the nature of ethnocracy to introduce the label ‘Saffron Ethnocracy’, which is used to identify the specific Islamophobic variation of ethnocracy observable in India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. The saffron label recognises the common use of saffron clothing as identity markers by Hindus and Buddhists, the dominant religious groups in each country. While all three South Asian countries were certainly procedural democracies during the period studied, majoritarianism strongly impacted their political systems, affecting citizenship laws and practices, contributing to assertions about civilisational uniqueness of dominant groups, empowering religio-political institutions of the dominant groups, dramatically curtailing freedom of expression and severely undermining the standing of minorities, particularly Muslim populations.