summative assesment 1.pptx final_rajesh s

What explains survival of democracy

in India?

Rajesh S Kumar

School of International Development,

University of East Anglia, UK

Presentation Outline…

• Introducing the discussion thread

• Key arguments/ theories in support

• Discussion with a case study

• Summarizing the main argument

• Criticisms

• Conclusion

• Bibliography

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Introducing the discussion thread….Survival of democracy…

• Democratic consolidation is the process by which a newly establisheddemocratic regime becomes sufficiently durable that a return tonondemocratic rule is no longer likely.” (Gasiorowski andPower,1998)

• The basic theories on survival of democracy considered in support of the discussion are • The Role of Political Agency

• The Role of Political Culture

• The Role of Economic Development

• Indian democracy- as a case in highlight12-11-2015 Rajesh S. Module DEV-M065- Summative Assessment Course Work #1 3

Democracy and India

• A Polyarchy( Dhal, 1989)• Elected offices,

• Free and fair elections

• Inclusive suffrage

• Right to run for office

• Freedom of expression

• Alternative sources of information

• Freedom of association

• As per Freedom House • Freedom Rating-2.5

• Political Rights-2

• Civil Liberties-3

(Source: Freedom House,2015. Available online at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world-2015/maps)

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Is the democracy consolidated in India ? –the litmus tests

•Huntington’s two-turnover test

“the party or group that takes power inthe initial election at the time of transitionloses a subsequent election and turns overpower to those election winners, and ifthose election winners then peacefully turnover power to the winners of a laterelection.”

[The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Norman, University ofOklahoma Press, 1991, 267]

• democracy as “the only game in town

• Behaviourally, no group is seriouslyengaged in secession or regime change.Attitudinally, most people accept thatdemocracy is the best form of government(so not only does nobody try to change theregime, nobody particularly wants to).Constitutionally, democracy is consolidatedwhen all the major organs of the state actaccording to the democratic institutions.

[Linz and Stepan. 1996. Problems of democratic transition andconsolidation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press]

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Application of the litmus tests

• Huntington’s two-turnover test

• 16 Parliamentary elections since 1951

• Smooth transfer of power to the successor leaderships

• The party that rules centre did not rule the State Governments since 1976

• Incumbent governments were defeated repeatedly in elections

• democracy as “the only game in town

• Increasing voting percentage sincefirst election 1952 ( 61% - 66.4%)

[Soruce: http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?id=105]

• Attempts to clamp emergencieswere defeated by the electorate (1975-77- Emergency Period)

• Judicial Autonomy


Key arguments/ theories in support of survival of democracy

• Role ofEconomic Development (Przeworski et

al. (1996)

• Percapita Income(>$4000(PPP)

• Enduring effect(Limongi ,1997)

• Middle Class effect(Lipset (1959)

• Bourgeoisie(Moore Jr,1966)

• Industrial working class

• Role of Political Culture(Almond and Verba 1963)

• Values and beliefs consistent with democracy

• Interpersonal trust

• Tolerance-conflict and consensus

• Political participation(education/exposure)

• Legitimacy of democratic decisions

• Role of Political Agencies(Burton et al. 1992)

• Political Actors• Elites• Rules and values of

democratic Institutions and Procedures

• Survival probability increases with consensus


Major highlights ofIndian polity

Government: Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Republic

Legislature: Parliament of India( Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha)

Decolonized from United Kingdom: Dominion( 15th August, 1947) Republic( 26 January, 1950)

Population:1,210,193,422( 2011 Census)

GDP: $ 1688

Gini Index:33.9

HDI:0.586( Medium)

[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India]

Available at http://www.mapsofindia.com/

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Empirical evidences from Indian democracy..

• Economic Development (Przeworski et al. (1996)

• Growing Per capita Income(>$4000)

• Enduring effect(Limongi,1997)

• Growing Middle Class effect(Lipset (1959)

• Industrialists- erstwhile kings-Bourgeoisie(Moore Jr,1966)

• Growing Industrial working class

• Decentralisation of development

• Appreciable Gini Index

• Political Culture (Almond and Verba 1963)

• Engagement with decolonization• Non Violence principles• Indian National Congress

experience • Provincial Government

experience • Versions of democratic

arrangements under local Kingdoms

• Respect of electoral verdicts• Increasing voting percentage• Local self governments • Civil society and NGOs• Social capital development• Rejection of authoritarian styles(

constitutional emergencies)• Historical ethical backgrounds of

self governments( Panchayats- a kind of polyarchy)

• Political Agencies• Congress party,

• Gandhi, Nehru

• Election Commission,

• Supreme Court

• Minority Rights

• Secularism

• Organized bureaucracy

• Political Parties

• Three Tier Governments

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Summarizing the main argument

• The survival of democracy is multi causal and is a very complexphenomenon

• The experience with the Indian policy again validates context specificreasoning for the survival of democracy•Indian democracy is not greatly an exemption to the general operation ofthe contemporary theories explaining the survival of democracy but thereexists strong exceptions to the theoretical prescriptions

• To some extent the play of luck can cannot be ruled out

• The survival of democracy in India could be largely explained by thePolitical culture followed by agencies approach and then economicdevelopment complemented by intrinsic features unique to the context


Contrasting and special features…..

• Adam Przeworski et al, Democracy and Development(2001)- incomeis the best indicator of democracy- predicted 77 % of the regimetypes- but India makes an exception

• Challenges the modernization theory- that democracy survives inlarge income countries

• India is the longest surviving low income political regime ondemocratic regime mode

• the other predictors such as religion, accountability, freedom ofspeech, economic equality are not holding good to the situation


Conclusion

The Key explanatory factor to explain survival of democracy in India is Political Culture along with other general and special causal factors

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Bibliography

● Almond, Gabriel, and Sidney V. (1963), ‘The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and

Democracy in Five Nations’, Princeton

● Gasiorowski M. J. and Power T. J. (1998), ‘The structural determinants of

democratic consolidation’, Comparative Political Studies, 31(6): 740-771

● Huntington, S. P. (1993). The Third Wave: Democratisation in the Late

Twentieth Century. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.

● Krouse R. W. (1982), ‘Polyarchy & Participation: The Changing Democratic

Theory of Robert Dahl’, Polity, 14 (3):441-463

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Bibliography...

● Lipset S. M. (1959), ‘Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic

Development and Political Legitimacy’, The American Political Science Review,

53(1): 69-105

● Przeworski A. and Limongi F. (1997), ‘Modernization: Theories and Facts’,

World Politics, 49(2):155-183

● Przeworski A., Alvarez M., Cheibub J. A. & Limongi F. (1996), ‘What Makes

Democracies Endure?’, Journal of Democracy, 7(1):39-55

● Theuerkauf U. (2015), Lecture notes on democracy, governance and

development, University of East Anglia, UK.


Source : www.google.com


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