The state of democracy

India moves up in the latest index but challenges remain

Indians, especially from the political establishment, have good reason to take heart from India’s promotion in the latest Democracy Index, an annual exercise conducted by The Economist newspaper’s Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), from 35 in 2015 to 32 in 2016. The fact that the world’s most populous democracy has outperformed the world’s most powerful democracy, the United States, on all parameters but one may be considered even more encouraging. Compared within the BRIC rubric, India’s performance positively sparkles. Brazil, which, just like India, falls in the category the EIU has designated “Flawed democracies”, weighs in at 51, equalling India only in terms of “electoral process and pluralism”. Russia (rank 134) and China (rank 136) are, expectedly, laggards that fall in the depressingly long list of countries designated as “Authoritarian regimes”. Overall, India is among the minority of nations that can be described as democratic (only 19 countries make the cut as “Full democracies”). In India’s 68th year as a republic and 70th year of independence, these facts should be cause for celebration given the country’s economic and cultural complexities and the enormous historical burden with which it began its rocky journey from authoritarian colonial subjugation to political democracy.

However, the conclusion that India is becoming a “better democracy” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to be treated with some caution. When the time-series data is viewed, India’s ranking is back to 2013 levels (33) and it has fallen from its rank of 27 in 2014, the year Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party came to power with the largest majority in Parliament in almost three decades. A more granular analysis shows that India’s score in terms of “electoral process” (9.58) and “political participation” (7.22) over the three years has been steady. The major progress has been in terms of “Functioning of government” — 7.14 in 2014 to 7.5 in 2016, an indicator, perhaps, of the virtues of “strong government” and no small achievement when set against the serially disruptive Parliament sessions. Anecdotal evidence from business and other stakeholders certainly suggests a greater responsiveness to problem-solving, though it is uncertain how the just concluded demonetisation will impact next year’s rankings.

The reasons for the slippage from 2014 values lie mainly in terms of “Democratic political culture” (from 6.25 to 5.63) and “Civil liberties” (from 9.41 to 9.12). In terms of political culture, the US is not the only country which India trails on this score. Remarkably, it does worse than authoritarian China and some sub-Saharan African nations. To be sure, the analysis on both parameters are broadly subjective but it is hard to deny the attacks on minorities, lower castes and dissidents by votaries of the regime and the tepid political response to such attacks that characterised 2015 and 2016. Just as the Chinese justify the success of their authoritarian economic model as “capitalism with Chinese characteristics” Indians may be tempted to uniquely define this political model as “Democracy with Indian characteristics”. This would be a mistake. As the index shows, the world’s full democracies are not only among the world’s most prosperous countries but also the most progressive in political culture and safeguarding civil liberties.