DEMOCRACY
INDEX - REPORT AND INDICES
News:
How is democracy measured
by global indices? | Explained
What's
in the news?
●
While India will be the nucleus of
democracy’s biggest litmus test, the strength of its democracy is under
scrutiny.
Key
takeaways:
●
V-Dem Institute’s recent democracy index
termed India “one of the worst autocratisers”— it had already ceased to be a
democracy on this index in 2018.
●
Similar indices have downgraded India’s
democratic standing in recent years: India
is only ‘partly free’ (Freedom House), is home to a “flawed democracy” (The
Economist Intelligence Unit) and is better classified as an “electoral
autocracy.”
●
The Indian Government has refuted these
assessments. It now plans to release its own.
Democracy
Report:
●
V-Dem
provides a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the
complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond the
simple presence of elections.
Released
by -
the Gothenburg-based V-Dem Institute.
Principles:
V-Dem distinguishes
between five high-level principles of
democracy such as
●
Electoral
●
Liberal
●
Participatory
●
Deliberative
●
Egalitarian
Components
of the Liberal Democratic Index (LDI) as per the V-Dem’s ‘Democracy Report
2024’:
1.
Liberal Component Index (LCI):
●
It measures aspects such as the protection
of individual liberties and legislative constraints on the executive branch of
government.
2.
Electoral Democracy Index (EDI):
●
This index considers indicators that
ensure free and fair elections, such as freedom of expression and association.
3.
Egalitarian Component Index:
●
It assesses the extent to which different
social groups within a country are equal in terms of rights and opportunities.
4.
Participatory Component Index:
●
This index evaluates the health and
functionality of citizen groups and civil society organizations, reflecting the
level of citizen participation in governance.
5.
Deliberative Component Index:
●
Examines whether political decisions are
made through public reasoning focused on the common good or through emotional
appeals, solidarity attachments, or coercion.
Go
back to basics:
V-Dem
Report’s Methodology:
●
The report produces the largest global
data on democracy and it is based on 31 million datasets that cover 202
countries from 1789 to 2023.
●
Different Attributes of Democracy are
considered by including over 4,300 scholars from 180 plus countries and experts
from various other countries.
●
V-Dem enables multiple ways to study the nature, causes, and consequences
of democracy embracing its multiple meanings.
●
V-Dem’s researchers code a series of
indicators for 12 areas across media, civil society, political parties, and
civil liberties, and each area is assigned five experts.