What can be done to arrest the trend of democratic decline worldwide? | In Focus podcast
3 months ago

What can be done to arrest the trend of democratic decline worldwide? | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance is a Stockholm-based intergovernmental organisation that advocates for democracy worldwide. Titled, ‘The Global State of Democracy 2024: Strengthening the Legitimacy of Elections in a Time of Radical Uncertainty’, the report has found that while one in four countries have improved in democratic metrics, a greater proportion—four out of nine – have declined. It also says that electoral participation has declined, one in three voters live in countries where the quality of elections has declined, and in what is clearly a dangerous trend, between 2020 and 2024, in one out of five elections, the losing candidate or party rejected the electoral outcome. Interestingly, the Report also found that disputes about the credibility of elections centred mostly on voting irregularities and vote counting. Coming to country rankings, the report finds that India has declined in all four major categories of evaluation – Representation, Rights, Rule of Law and Participation.

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History of this topic

Democracy declined for 8th straight year around the globe, institute finds
3 months ago

Democracy declined for 8th straight year around the globe, institute finds

Associated Press  

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Last year had the worst decline in credible elections and parliamentary oversight in almost a half-century, driven by government intimidation, foreign interference, disinformation and the misuse of artificial intelligence in campaigns, an organization promoting democracy said Tuesday. “Elections remain the single best opportunity to end democratic backsliding and turn the tide in democracy’s favor,” said International IDEA’s …

Democracy declined for 8th straight year around the globe, institute finds
3 months ago

Democracy declined for 8th straight year around the globe, institute finds

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ …

There is only some good electoral news
5 months, 1 week ago

There is only some good electoral news

The Hindu  

The contrasting recent election outcomes a month apart in India and the United Kingdom tell a complicated story. The Economist’s Democracy Index told a similar story, while Sweden-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, claimed that “across every region of the world, democracy has continued to contract”. And yet, voters in India — which Sweden’s Varieties of Democracy Institute, …

India ‘one of the worst autocratisers’: V-Dem report on democracy
9 months, 1 week ago

India ‘one of the worst autocratisers’: V-Dem report on democracy

The Hindu  

India, which was downgraded to the status of an “electoral autocracy” in 2018, has declined even further on multiple metrics to emerge as “one of the worst autocratizers”, according to the ‘Democracy Report 2024’ released by the Gothenburg-based V-Dem Institute that tracks democratic freedoms worldwide. The level of democracy enjoyed by the “average person in the world is down to …

Democracy ‘in trouble, stagnant at best, and declining in many places’
1 year, 1 month ago

Democracy ‘in trouble, stagnant at best, and declining in many places’

Al Jazeera  

Annual report from prominent think tank finds political freedoms under pressure in many parts of the world. Democracy declined around the world for the sixth consecutive year in 2022 as half the world’s countries slid backwards on indicators such as freedom of expression and political participation, according to a prominent think tank. In its annual report released this week, the …

Aakar Patel | Civil liberties & democracy: Why is India's rank so low?
1 year, 8 months ago

Aakar Patel | Civil liberties & democracy: Why is India's rank so low?

Deccan Chronicle  

In 2014 Dr Manmohan Singh had said: “I sincerely believe it will be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as India’s Prime Minister.” Four years later, he said he recognised his words had been harsh but he added that the “time is not far off when the public at large would have the chance to pronounce on the …

India’s democratic values have eroded significantly: V­Dem
1 year, 9 months ago

India’s democratic values have eroded significantly: V­Dem

The Hindu  

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi delivered a lecture titled ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’ at the University of Cambridge on February 28, 2023. Data from the V-Dem Institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg show that democratic values have eroded significantly in recent years in India. In 2022, a citizen is “likely” to be arrested for posting political content online …

India’s democracy, diminished and declining
1 year, 9 months ago

India’s democracy, diminished and declining

The Hindu  

The captivating Republic Day parade in January this year showcased the nation’s soft and hard power, sending out a message to the world of India’s arrival on the global scene. But the truth about India’s declining democracy has taken the sheen away from an otherwise impressive story of the nation’s significant accomplishments. In recent days, the expunging of parliamentary statements …

Democracy and its structural slippages
1 year, 11 months ago

Democracy and its structural slippages

The Hindu  

The democracy that is functional around the world today — even as it has a long history of evolution — was essentially a 19th century to 20th century western creation. The uniformity takes the form of periodic multi-party “free and fair” elections and guarantees of various kinds of freedoms, especially of the market. But the practice of elections belies even …

Republic of India: Planet’s only billion people democracy calls for broader perspective
2 years, 1 month ago

Republic of India: Planet’s only billion people democracy calls for broader perspective

Firstpost  

It is pertinent to ask if the models underlying the “indices of democracy” have adequately accounted for the unique challenges that democracy at the scale of a billion people poses Democracy in India has been the subject of much critical debate lately in International Media. Challenges of one size fits all approach It is a matter of debate whether the …

Deepening democracy
2 years, 4 months ago

Deepening democracy

Hindustan Times  

In their speeches to mark 75 years of Independence, President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the miracle that is the thriving of democracy in India. In the expansion of voting among women, the gradual removal of social hurdles for lower castes, disabled people and minorities of various hues, and the rise of politicians from erstwhile marginalised groups, …

At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before
2 years, 4 months ago

At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before

LA Times  

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, center in blue mask, and other lawmakers participate in a protest in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. “And now, 75 years on, to witness it being dismantled systematically and in shockingly violent ways is traumatic.” Modi’s ministers say India’s democratic principles are robust, even thriving. Then he promised: “To the nations and peoples …

At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before
2 years, 4 months ago

At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — The Aug. 5 demonstrations by India’s main opposition Congress party against soaring food prices and unemployment began like any other recent protest — an electorally weak opposition taking to the New Delhi streets against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s massively popular government. “And now, 75 years on, to witness it being dismantled systematically and in shockingly violent ways …

The Downgrading of India’s Democracy
2 years, 8 months ago

The Downgrading of India’s Democracy

The Diplomat  

India’s democracy is in peril. Of 179 countries assessed in the 2022 report, India stands 93rd on the V-Dem’s Liberal Democracy Index and 100th in the Electoral Democracy Index. The U.S.-based Freedom House described India as a “partly free democracy” in its Freedom in the World 2022 report and gave it a”Global Freedom Score’” of 66 out of 100 – …

India no longer regarded democracy, has earned 'electoral autocracy' label: Congress
3 years, 2 months ago

India no longer regarded democracy, has earned 'electoral autocracy' label: Congress

India TV News  

The Congress on Saturday claimed that India is no longer regarded as a democracy and has earned the label of an "electoral autocracy", as it called upon all democratic parties to join hands in resolutely opposing the Modi government. In a resolution on the political situation in the country, the Congress Working Committee said the "assault on democratic institutions completes …

Assessing the quality of Indian democracy
3 years, 6 months ago

Assessing the quality of Indian democracy

Hindustan Times  

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes his seventh year in office, India’s perceived democratic backsliding has invariably formed the underlying context of political assessments of his tenure. These concerns were validated by a host of annual democracy rankings earlier this year, which downgraded India’s status to a “flawed democracy” or “electoral autocracy”. Notwithstanding political rhetoric, these institutes follow a very …

Retreat of democracy: The terror of laws
3 years, 9 months ago

Retreat of democracy: The terror of laws

The Hindu  

Three international studies based on indices of freedom and democracy by renowned global research institutions were published in the months of February and March 2021, and all three of them contained one common observation − that India’s democracy is backsliding, leading to a rapid and alarming deterioration of political and civil liberties. Specifically categorising the Indian situation, the V-Dem Institute …

Aakar Patel | Democracy Index: Why India's rank now falling
3 years, 10 months ago

Aakar Patel | Democracy Index: Why India's rank now falling

Deccan Chronicle  

The Economist is a magazine though it refers to itself as a newspaper. This is mainly, the Economist Intelligence Unit says, because “democratic norms have been under pressure since 2015”, and as a result India’s “global ranking slipped from 27th to 53rd as a result of democratic backsliding under the leadership of Narendra Modi”. “However, there are significant weaknesses in …

Letter from the Editors
4 years, 1 month ago

Letter from the Editors

The Diplomat  

Welcome to the November 2020 issue of The Diplomat Magazine. In our cover story, we take a bird’s eye view of the state of democracy in the four main subregions of the Indo-Pacific: East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Central Asia. However, East Asia’s democracies remain a bright spot, while Central Asia poses a tricky question: Can democracy decline …

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