Liberal Woes

Krishna Kumari: The Tragedy of India written by English Subba Rao. Edited and introduced by Rahul Sagar (Bloomsbury)

“English” Subba Rao was the tutor of the princes of Travancore, Swati and Uttaram Tirunal in the 1820s. In 1826, he wrote a play on the tragedy of Krishna Kumari, the princess of Udaipur who ended her life by consum­ing poison. The play, the playwright and the story have been forgotten for a long time. Rahul Sagar, an academic, has now brought out a new edi­tion, complete with a critical apparatus to help modern readers. Briefly, Kumari’s story is one of the Byzantine intrigues among rulers of Rajputana. Kumari’s hand was claimed by the royal houses of Jodhpur and Jaipur even as the rulers of these principalities fought each other using all means, fair and foul. Kumari was left with no option but to die by suicide. The interesting part of the story is Subba Rao, who in far-off Travancore, was the model of a proto-nationalist writer. His play was a warning of what happens when foreign powers become the deciding factors in a country’s politics. The play was written in 1826 but its political message has a deep resonance with contem­porary events.

Rebellion: How Antilib­eralism Is Tearing America Apart—Again by Robert Kagan (Knopf)

If Robert Kagan is to be believed, the election of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States will not just spell the end of liberalism but could very well take the country towards destruction. He traces the roots of the current political situation in the US all the way back to the American Revolution itself. If that event marked the origins of liberalism there, it was also the point when an anti-lib­eral tradition began striking roots. The second tradition has now allegedly over­whelmed the first one. This is perhaps the most polemical work written by Kagan. To analyse a particular political event and imagine its origin almost 240 years ago is too deterministic. Surely there are causes that are closer in time having influenced the present outcome? How about unfettered globalisation and “endless wars” taking a toll on America’s body politic? Perhaps Americans are tired of squaring the City with the Soul? Kagan does not answer these questions.

Active and Passive Citizens: A Defense of Majoritarian Democracy by Richard Tuck (Princeton Uni­versity Press)

Observers on both the Right and the Left have no trouble in claiming that liberalism, as an ideology and as a system underpinning modern govern­ment, is in trouble. It is the cause of the malaise that inflames passions. Might there be a middle explanatory ground? That is unlikely given how polarisation has affected both analysts and participants in political life. Richard Tuck, a well-known political theorist, has made a valiant attempt. In doing that, he goes back in time and compares the ideas of Abbé Sieyès (1748-1836) and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778), two thinkers of the French Revolution. Sieyès’ ideas—certain rights being kept away from the direct operation of democracy—are now well-entrenched in liberal thinking. Tuck fa­vours Rousseau’s procedural democracy. It is an interesting idea as recent events show how unelected institutions across democracies have played havoc, nearly con­suming democracy itself.

Disputing Disaster: A Sextet on the Great War by Perry Anderson (Verso)

The First World War has spawned an entire industry of history writing over the last century. But when it comes to debates around the writing of this history, the output is considerably smaller. Perry Anderson, the foremost Marxist historian of Europe, lists just three books. His new book, a study of six historians, is meant to convey a synoptic view of these debates. Starting with Pierre Renouvin (1893-1974) and ending with Paul Schroeder (1927-2020), the book is a careful study of the event as seen through the writings of its historians. It is, so to speak, a second-order history, a rather exotic undertaking. The subject is important as debates have centred on the assignment of “guilt” for the cataclysm. Was it Germany? Or Russia? Or was it the other camp followers in that bitter summer of 1914? Anderson, true to the methodology he believes in, eschews the individual—country-level—explanations in favour of system-level arguments.

2024 In ReviewBest of books 2024English Subba RaoPerry AndersonpoliticsRichard TuckRobert Kagan