According to the ‘Autocratization Turns Viral: Democracy Report 2021’ released by Swedish-based V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute states that India’s regime type has turned into ‘Electoral Autocracy’ in 2020 from ‘Electoral Democracy’ in 2010. Hungary & Turkey have also been demoted as ‘Electoral Autocracy’.
- India has registered a 23%-point drop on the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI) scale marking one of the most dramatic shifts among all countries in the world over the past 10 years.
- Based on the LDI Index, the top 3 democratic countries in the world are Denmark, Sweden & Norway.
- Liberal Democracies have declined over the past decade (2010-20) from 41 countries to 32 countries.
- This is the 5th Annual report from the V-Dem Institute and is based on a data set of 202 countries.
Regarding India
The Indian part of the report was compiled by Shreeya Pillai & Staffan I Lindberg.
- India is now as autocratic as Pakistan & is worse than Bangladesh & Nepal.
- India along with Brazil, Turkey & USA have been listed among the 25 most ‘autocratizing nations’ in the world
Reasons for Decline
- Deterioration of freedom of Media, Academia, Civil Society and use of Sedition Law to curtail voices.
- The report has also highlighted the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) used by the Government to restrict the entry, exit & functioning of civil society organisations.
- It also highlighted the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
Most Common Regime Type
- The most common regime type is ‘Electoral Autocracy’, together with close autocracies they number 87 states and are home to 68% of the world population.
- It stated that the level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2020 is equivalent to the democracy found around the 1990s.
Regions of Decline
- The report also indicates the decline of liberal democracies in the past decade (2010-20) from the Asia-Pacific region, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
- Number of Democratising countries has dropped to 16, which hosts just 4% of the Global population.
Click here to read the full report
Recent Related News:
i.February 4, 2021, According to the ‘Democracy Index 2020’ released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), India with a score of 6.61 slipped two places to 53rd Rank (out of 167 countries) in the Index due to decline in Civil Liberties.
About V-Dem Institute:
Director – Staffan I. Lindberg
Location – Gothenburg, Sweden
