India is a "flawed democracy"

This designation includes neighbouring states such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as another of the so-called BRIC emerging market giants-Brazil

The vibrant state of India’s democracy is currently being highlighted by preparations for the forthcoming general election-the world's largest democratic exercise. But is India a full democracy? The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2008 Democracy index-based on 60 indicators which measure electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture-ranks India 35th out of 167 countries, putting it among the 50 countries considered "flawed democracies". This designation includes neighbouring states such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as another of the so-called BRIC emerging market giants-Brazil. However, India is well placed within this category, ranking above all of these nations. With an overall score of 7.8 out of 10, it is just shy of the score needed to be categorised as a full democracy.

"While India’s democracy, in technical terms, is flawed, the country is very close to joining the elite club of full democracies. India’s young citizenry needs to engage with politics more actively and constructively in order to create a favourable democratic culture in the country," says Manoj Vohra, Director of Research with the Economist Intelligence Unit. "India is already well ahead of most emerging economies."

India's relatively strong position owes much to its extremely high scores in the electoral process and pluralism and civil liberties categories; its status as the world's largest democracy, and the country's vibrant free press and pluralistic society have long been justifiably celebrated. In these areas India outscores even some long-established democracies that fall into the designation of "full democracies", including the US and the UK.

Political culture is still relatively weak

However, India fares much worse in the political participation and political culture categories. The existence of the "argumentative Indian" may facilitate public debate, but this does not necessarily translate into a high level of political participation. Voter turnout in the most recent general election, in May 2004, was 58%, but this figure masks extremely wide interstate variations, ranging from 35% in Jammu and Kashmir to 92% in the small north-eastern state of Nagaland. Within political culture, the increasing reliance on unwieldy and sometimes uncooperative coalitions often hinders rather than advances economic reforms, and this works against the country's overall score. India's government functioning score is relatively strong, but it is brought down by lingering issues about corruption and government accountability.

The economic downturn will have a negligible impact on democracy

India is currently experiencing an economic slowdown, but the global economic crisis has had a much smaller effect on India than on most other countries. As a result, there is unlikely to be any direct impact on the functioning of democracy. Given that large swathes of the population, mostly in rural areas, derived relatively little benefit from the economic boom of the past few years, they are now also unlikely to feel much pain as a result of the downturn.

"Other issues, such as consumer price inflation and national security, would have been far more likely to prompt an increase in social unrest than a broad-based cyclical economic downturn," says Vohra.

A brief note on defining and measuring democracy
There is no consensus on how to measure democracy, and definitions of democracy are contested. Having free and fair competitive elections, and satisfying related aspects of political freedom, are the sine qua non of all definitions. However, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s index is based on the view that measures of democracy that reflect the state of political freedoms and civil liberties are not "thick" enough: they do not encompass sufficiently some crucial features that determine the quality and substance of democracy. Thus, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s democracy index also includes measures of political participation, political culture and functioning of government, which are, at best, marginalised by other measures.

The index of democracy covers 167 countries and territories. The index, on a 0-10 scale, is based on the ratings for 60 indicators grouped into five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. The five categories are interrelated, and form a coherent conceptual whole. Each category has a rating on a 0-10 scale, and the overall index of democracy is the simple average of the five category indices.

The category indices are based on the sum of the indicator scores in the category, converted to a 0 to 10 scale. Adjustments to the category scores are made if countries fall short in the following critical areas for democracy:

* Whether national elections are free and fair
* The security of voters
* The influence of foreign powers on government
* The capability of the civil service to implement policies

The index values are used to place countries within one of four types of regime:

1. Full democracies-scores of 8-10
2. Flawed democracies-score of 6-7.9
3. Hybrid regimes-scores of 4-5.9
4. Authoritarian regimes-scores below 4