To the question of the specifics of the socio-political modernization of the countries in South Asia

Abstract

The article examines the main guidelines for understanding the conjugation of traditional values with the Western understanding of modernity and social progress for the South Asian subcontinent. The general crisis of the reformist movement, which failed to develop a balanced modernization approach, which could harmoniously combine Western political, economic and cultural values with national spiritual foundations, is stated; the crisis clearly manifested itself at the end of the 20th century. The article also focuses on the most significant aspects of socio-political modernization in the countries of South Asia (social asymmetry, pendulum-like nature of power legitimation, radicalization of forms of political change, etc.). Separately, it is emphasized that the political development of modern states of the South Asian subcontinent demonstrates a pronounced tendency to strengthen national identity with an active appeal to religious self-identification, on the one hand, and a negative assessment of the colonial past, on the other.