India and Turkey are two of the world’s biggest democracies—multi-ethnic nations that rose from their imperial past to be founded on the values of modernity. They have fair elections, open markets, and freedom of religion. Yet their leaders—the charismatic strongmen Narendra Modi, in India, and Recep Tyyip Erdoğan, in Turkey—have used the power they’ve won as elected heads of state to push their countries toward authoritarian ways. n+1 contributor Basharat Peer spent a year and a half traveling across India and Turkey to chronicle the rise of Modi and Erdoğan, and to tell the stories of the men and women they have victimized, who have showed courage and endured great suffering because of their love of true democratic traditions. It is more important than ever to understand the failings of democracies like India and Turkey if liberal traditions are to be protected and nourished.

Praise for A Question of Order

“Basharat Peer’s new book is impeccably timed. Amid all this loose talk of an authoritarian wave, an in-depth comparison of two oft-cited cases is welcome.”
—Bookforum

“A knowledgeable journalist astutely delineates a troubling global move toward the right wing.”
—Kirkus Reviews

170 pages.