Amartya Sen in BBC

Particularly, I found his response to the question regarding the imposition of democracy by the western world (George W. Bush to be specific in the interviewer's question) on the non-western world very interesting. Amartya Sen began by finding fault in the question itself. He said that the western world does not own democracy in the first place. There is no question of imposing it on others. Long before America was discovered or even before the British ruled the world, democracy was practised in Buddhist Council in India in pre-Christian era. Also it was in ancient Greece where the electoral system was first put into effect. Obviously, the interviewer didn't have this background knowledge when she asked the question as she was quite taken aback by Professor Sen's answer. She responded by asking whether he would deny the fact that most western countries have democratic political process. Of course Amartya Sen agreed with that statement but at the same time he reminded us that the non-western countries can not be expected to be on the same par as the western countries as they were under colonial rule of western countries until very recently.

In the half an hour interview, Professor Sen touched various socio-political issues such as hunger and public action. His explanations were illustrative and thought provoking.