Reinforcing global and Indian democracy

During the last decade and a half, there has been growing global concern about the quality of democracy in countries that were considered to be embracing democratic principles and running democratic governments. Surprisingly, the opposite was in evidence, preceding these years. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Together, they brought the Cold War to an end and sounded the death knell of dictatorial regimes in Eastern Europe. The impact of these events was dramatic. They hastened a wave of democratisation, not merely in Eastern Europe, but across continents—in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. The share of free countries grew from 36 to 46 percent between 1988–2005.

Global democracy under threat?

Unfortunately, post 2005, year after year, a worrying decline in global freedom has been recorded by the most prominent global democratic surveys (Freedom in the World by Freedom House, The Economic Intelligence Unit Democracy Index by The Economist). There were alarming setbacks in political rights and civil liberties in a number of countries. Strikingly, countries that witnessed the largest declines in freedom were not restricted to a specific area but were spread across continents. Even more alarming was the fact that robust, long-standing democracies were shaken by an undercurrent of populist political forces challenging established fundamentals of democratic governance.

Distressed by the results of these global surveys that discerned a regression in democratic governance in several democracies around the globe, prominent authors and thinkers from the western world have attempted to identify causes and have offered ideas to fix this alarming trend in democratic decline.

These developments brought cheer to dictatorships. They strove to highlight, what was in their opinion, the innate weaknesses of democracy and emboldened them to crush internal dissent and lend support to the rise of dictatorial regimes beyond their borders. Distressed by the results of these global surveys that discerned a regression in democratic governance in several democracies around the globe, prominent authors and thinkers from the western world have attempted to identify causes and have offered ideas to fix this alarming trend in democratic decline. Amongst the most significant causes for ‘democratic recession’ that these thinkers listed was what was termed as ‘surveillance capitalism’. Surveillance capitalism’s giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple controlled every aspect of human information and communication systems in most parts of the world. And yet, they were substantially beyond any accountability to the legal system of nations. It was evident that a surveillance society that they spawned was quite detrimental to the advancement of democratic values. Further, the fall in percentages in white populations in the West , in turn fueling large-scale non-white in-migration, was stoking the fires of polarisation in the western society along racist lines. The internet and social media played a significant and sinister role in stoking the fires of divisiveness, and this was unfortunately breaking down the idea of inclusive citizenship. Furthermore, the current set of global institutions such as the United Nations (UN), set up to uphold a global democratic order, had been found seriously wanting and were unable to protect democratic values. In the face of such impotence, there has been a growing display of audacity by dictatorial regimes in meddling with democratic processes such as elections, coercion of public officials, and attempts at poaching struggling democracies through predatory investments. There has also been growing inequality in democracies and disenchantment amongst the youth with messy decision-making processes witnessed in democracies. The speed with which autocracies could implement decisions have engendered admiration of socialism amongst younger generations in the democratic world.

The internet and social media played a significant and sinister role in stoking the fires of divisiveness, and this was unfortunately breaking down the idea of inclusive citizenship.

In looking for solutions, the authors warn that any disjointed effort by individual democratic nation to stem the undemocratic tide may not suffice. The contest must be determined and united, so that if one country comes under attack from a dictatorial regime, the democratic world ought to rally with punitive action to deter the assailant and cushion the country under attack with positive assistance in order that it may stand on its own legs. Additionally, countries need to overhaul their legal systems by rewriting laws so that countries may end the corporate control of information flows. They also should be able to enforce a radical transparency in politics and business, and enforce them with vigour. The authors warn that if the western democratic world is not keen to disallow corrupt money flows, democracies would continue to suffer. Liberal democracies must ensure through policies that economic prosperity reaches more of their citizens and social respect is broad-based. Democracies also need to stamp out the commercial market for intelligence grade software and other technologies that promote spy and hacking systems, and threaten privacy and freedom. They cannot allow companies in democratic countries to be key enablers of tyranny.

Dangers to Indian democracy

In the context of global concerns about the health of democracies, it would be germane to look at the dangers that bedevil Indian democracy. Many of the dangers globally faced by democracies in the world are in some measure also threats to this country. The Government of India’s recent run-ins with global communication organisations are a case in point. In the face of challenges faced by the Indian communication system, India’s laws definitely need a serious relook, overhaul, and tightening. There is no doubt that greater responsibility needs to be injected in the use of social media. A lot of work also needs to be done in terms of inclusive citizenship. The variety of India’s social issues are unmatched by any country. Some of them have been left unattended for long. It would be important that they get settled over an identified period of time and not allowed to fester.

The sad situation gets aided by the slow judicial process, huge pendency of cases and weak legislation surrounding the conviction and debarring of public representatives from fighting elections.

Two further unsavoury developments internal to the country are of immediate significance. Their impact on the nation’s democracy is worrisome. The first is the criminalisation of politics. It has been reported that nearly 50 percent MPs in the current Lok Sabha have criminal records. This marks an increase of 44 percent in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009. Even more alarming was the report of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) revealing that 76 of the 543 MPs of the Lok Sabha in 2009 had been charged with serious offences such as murder, rape, and dacoity. The situation in many state assemblies is no better. This is a dangerous trend, since criminalisation of politics cuts people off from any meaningful engagement with their representatives, adds to their growing disillusionment with democracy, and hits at the core of good democratic governance. The sad situation gets aided by the slow judicial process, huge pendency of cases and weak legislation surrounding the conviction and debarring of public representatives from fighting elections. The second is the increasing disinterest of elected representatives in performing their primary function of spending quality time in the Parliament and State Assemblies. It is expected that they would study and speak on issues that hold great significance for the country and the states. Equal attention ought to be given by them to deliberate on bills while drafting them Unfortunately, it has been found that state legislative assemblies averaged a mere 30 sittings annually over the last decade, with Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi being the biggest culprits, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, and Uttar Pradesh. The Lok Sabha’s record was not too bright either. It averaged only 63 sittings per year in the last 10 years. Clearly, any debate on laws is not receiving the kind of attention they deserve. As a consequence, quality of statutes has eroded, a factor which the Chief Justice of India has referred to in his observations. This indicates a decline in the quality of Indian democracy that does not bode well. Along with some of the global concerns raised, India needs to work on its internal weaknesses to protect the quality of its democracy.

• Urbanisation in India
• Urbanisation
• India
• democracy
• Facebook
• global democracy
• Google
• Indian democracy
• Meta
• politicians
• surveillance capitalism
• Twitter

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