V-Dem Democracy Report
Also called: Varieties of Democracy · Topic: Democracy: Forms of Government, Principles and Outcomes · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
This is a yearly report by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. It puts countries into four groups: liberal democracy, electoral democracy, electoral autocracy and closed autocracy. It is usually released in March. It is often quoted in debates on democratic backsliding.
Example
V-Dem has classed India as an "electoral autocracy" since 2021. India's government disputes this. An EAC-PM working paper (2022) said the methods are Western-centred, rely on perceptions and use unclear weighting.
Don't confuse with
- EIU Democracy Index: it comes from London, uses 60 indicators in 5 categories and rates India a "flawed democracy".
Related concepts
- EIU Democracy Index
- Freedom in the World
- World Press Freedom Index
- Electoral autocracy
- Hybrid regime
- Illiberal democracy
- Democratic backsliding