Key Points:

  • The evidence from India, Brazil and South Africa demonstrates that there is no need to give up individual rights and freedoms in order to achieve growth or to expand opportunities.
  • A major publication “The Democratic Alternative from the South: India, Brazil and South Africa” reveals that the expansion and strengthening of democratic institutions can pave the way for a second wave of reforms needed to ensure steady high growth, and to increase opportunities for the poor.
  • On the contrary, the experiences of India, Brazil, and South Africa demonstrate that the expansion and strengthening of democratic institutions can pave the way for a second wave of reforms needed to ensure steady high growth and to increase opportunities for the poor.
  • If these countries can harness the energy and vitality of democratic processes to push for effective policies, if their politicians adopt and can sell market reforms and sustainable programmes which will expand opportunities further, then a democratic alternative will emerge from these countries in the global South.
  • After the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty-five years ago, Western democratic capitalism seemed to have triumphed. Many believed that no political alternative could or would compete with it ever again.