Measuring democracy: indices and the backsliding debate

Detail

1. Why measure democracy at all?

• Form and practice can differ. Many countries call themselves democracies. They hold elections and have a written constitution. In practice, they may still jail critics, control the media or rig the vote.
• Measuring tries to close this gap. It asks how far a country lives up to democracy's promises, not just whether it has the outward form.
• NCERT's starting exercise (Class 9, "Democracy"): students rate India's neighbours as democratic, partially democratic or non-democratic. Global indices do the same thing on a large scale, with fixed rules for scoring.
• The old idea of a standard: early republics (the ganas) and the Uttaramerur inscriptions (10th century CE, which set rules on who could stand for the village assembly and how members were chosen by lot) show that people judged self-government against written rules long before modern indices existed.
• Three things to test (used throughout this section):
• Procedures: free and fair elections, universal adult franchise, alternation of power.
• Rights: free speech, free association, a free press, an independent judiciary.
• Outcomes: accountable, responsive and legitimate government; dignity and equality (NCERT Class 10, "Outcomes of Democracy").

2. The four main global indices

Index	Publisher (base)	Method	Categories	India (latest noted)
V-Dem Democracy Report	V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (Sweden)	Expert-coded: country experts score many indicators	Liberal democracy, electoral democracy, electoral autocracy, closed autocracy	"Electoral autocracy" since the 2021 report (verify latest edition)
EIU Democracy Index	Economist Intelligence Unit (London)	60 indicators in 5 categories, scored 0–10	Full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, authoritarian regime	"Flawed democracy" (rank: verify latest edition)
Freedom in the World	Freedom House (Washington, DC)	Scores political rights and civil liberties	Free, partly free, not free	"Partly free" since 2021
World Press Freedom Index	Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Paris	180 countries, 5 indicators	Country ranking and score	151st in 2025 (verify latest edition)

• V-Dem's four regime types (from most to least democratic):
• Liberal democracy: free elections, plus strong protection of rights, the rule of law and checks on the executive.
• Electoral democracy: free and fair multiparty elections, but weaker liberal protections.
• Electoral autocracy: multiparty elections are held, but the country falls short on free expression, free association and clean elections.

• Closed autocracy: no real multiparty election for the chief executive.

• The EIU's five categories: 1. Electoral process and pluralism 2. Functioning of government 3. Political participation 4. Political culture 5. Civil liberties

• EIU regime types: full democracy → flawed democracy (free elections but problems such as weak political culture or curbs on the media) → hybrid regime (a mix of democratic and authoritarian features) → authoritarian regime.

• Freedom House rates two areas: political rights (elections, pluralism, how government works) and civil liberties (expression, association, rule of law, personal rights).
• RSF measures only press freedom. It is not a full democracy index, but it is often quoted alongside the others.

3. Key concepts in the debate

• Democratic backsliding: elected governments slowly weaken courts, the media, the opposition and NGOs. There is no coup. The decline happens step by step, often through legal means.
• Commonly cited cases: Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela.

• Why it is hard to spot: elections continue, so the outward form stays the same.

• Illiberal democracy (Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Affairs, 1997): elections are held, but liberties, the media and the courts are curbed. Zakaria's point is that electoral democracy and liberal constitutionalism (limits on power) are two different things.

• Electoral autocracy (a V-Dem term) and hybrid regime (an EIU term) describe the same middle zone between full democracy and full dictatorship.
• Link to NCERT: Class 9 lists the features of democracy as free and fair elections, one person one vote one value, the rule of law, and respect for rights. Backsliding means losing these features while elections carry on.

4. What the indices cite against India

• Sedition and UAPA cases:
• Sedition (Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code): the Supreme Court put it on hold in 2022 (S.G. Vombatkere v. Union of India). The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 dropped the word "sedition", but critics say Section 152 covers similar ground.

• UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967): an anti-terror law under which bail is very hard to get. Critics say it is used against journalists and activists.

• Internet shutdowns: India records some of the highest numbers in the world. In Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020), the Supreme Court held that free speech online is protected under Article 19(1)(a). Any shutdown must be necessary and proportionate, and the order must be published.

• Press freedom: this is reflected in India's 151st rank on the RSF index (2025).
• FCRA curbs: the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (amended in 2020) controls foreign funding of NGOs. Many NGOs have had their registration cancelled.
• Electoral bonds: these allowed donors to give money to political parties without their names being made public. The Supreme Court struck the scheme down in ADR v. Union of India (February 2024). It held that voters have a right to know who funds parties, which is part of Article 19(1)(a).

5. Evidence on the other side

• High and rising turnout: large, peaceful elections, with women voting in growing numbers.
• Change of government in the states: ruling parties regularly lose state elections. Alternation of power is NCERT's basic test of a democracy.
• Independent court rulings: for example, the electoral bonds judgment (2024) went against the government.
• The reduced majority in 2024: the ruling party lost its single-party majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Voters were able to punish the government, which is a sign that elections are competitive.
• The NCERT outcome view (Class 10): democracy should be judged by whether it produces an accountable, responsive and legitimate government. It should not be measured against an ideal that no country fully meets.

6. The government's critique of the indices

• EAC-PM working paper (November 2022): "Why India Does Poorly on Global Perception Indices", written by Sanjeev Sanyal (Member, EAC-PM) and Akanksha Arora. The EAC-PM is the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. [2]
• It studied three opinion-based indices: Freedom in the World, the EIU Democracy Index and the V-Dem indices. [2]

• It found all three to be almost entirely perception-based: they rest on opinions, not hard data. [2]

• Why it matters for the economy:

• These indices feed into the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). [2]
• The WGI carry about 18–20% weight in sovereign credit ratings (the ratings that decide how cheaply a country can borrow abroad). [2]

• So a poor democracy score can raise India's borrowing costs.

• Main methodological complaints:

• Western-centred: they assume one model of democracy.
• Small expert panels: a few unnamed experts decide a country's score.
• Opaque weighting: it is not clear how individual scores are combined.

• Inconsistent results: India is rated below some countries that do not hold free elections.

• What the paper recommends: encourage independent Indian think tanks to build perception-based indices for the whole world. This would break the hold of a handful of Western institutions. [2]

7. How to use the indices in an answer

• Treat indices as prompts, not verdicts. An index flags a possible problem. Then check it against procedures, rights and outcomes (Sections 2 and 9–11 of the parent note).
• Look at the trend, not just the label. A falling score over several years tells you more than a single year's rank.
• Citizens' vigilance (NCERT Class 7, closing question): democracy survives only if citizens stay alert. They do this through voting, a free press, courts, civil society and questioning those in power. NCERT's list of hurdles (Q7) gives the everyday version of what the indices measure.

Prelims Hooks

• V-Dem is based at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). It uses four regime types. "Electoral autocracy" is a V-Dem term, not an EIU term.
• EIU Democracy Index: 60 indicators in 5 categories. "Hybrid regime" and "flawed democracy" are EIU categories.
• Freedom House (Washington, DC) publishes Freedom in the World. It scores political rights and civil liberties and labels countries free, partly free or not free. India has been "partly free" since 2021.
• RSF World Press Freedom Index is published from Paris. It covers 180 countries. India ranked 151st in 2025.
• "Illiberal democracy": coined by Fareed Zakaria (1997).
• EAC-PM working paper (2022) criticised Freedom in the World, EIU and V-Dem, not the RSF index. [2]
• These perception indices feed into the World Bank's WGI, which carry about 18–20% weight in sovereign ratings. [2]
• ADR v. Union of India (February 2024): the Electoral Bonds Scheme was struck down because it violated voters' right to information (Article 19(1)(a)).
• Trap: backsliding happens without a coup, through elected governments. Hungary, Turkey and Venezuela are the standard examples.

Mains Points

• Indices help, but they are not final. They give an outside check and an early warning. But they are perception-based, rely on small panels and use opaque weights (EAC-PM, 2022) [2]. A good answer tests their claims against India's procedures (turnout, alternation of power), rights (UAPA, sedition, internet shutdowns, FCRA) and outcomes (accountability shown in 2024).
• Backsliding versus resilience in India: the indices point to curbs on the press and on NGOs. Against this stand independent court rulings (the electoral bonds judgment, 2024) and voters cutting the government's majority in 2024. The best conclusion is "a democracy under strain but still competitive", supported by evidence on both sides.
• Indices have economic costs: governance scores feed into sovereign ratings through the WGI [2]. This is why India argues for open methods, named panels and Indian-built indices. Reforms that improve the score on the ground also matter: narrower sedition and UAPA rules, a proportionality test for shutdowns, and transparent political funding.
• The outcome lens (NCERT Class 10): judge democracy by accountable, responsive and legitimate government and by citizens' dignity, not by rank alone. Lasting protection comes from citizens' vigilance (NCERT Class 7).