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India is the world's most extraordinarily successful democracy. "Extraordinarily," because other countries like India -- postcolonial, Eurasian, and relatively poor -- tend not to have well-institutionalized democracies. India is the only major postcolonial country to have remained a democracy throughout its entire postcolonial history, the only mainland Eurasian country to have remained a democracy throughout its entire modern history, and the only major country with a GDP per capita of less than about $10,000 per year to have a record of even three decades of free and fair elections with peaceful transfers of power between rival parties.
Yet all three international democracy rating organizations (the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House, and the especially Varieties of Democracy Institute) rank India relatively poorly among the world's democracies. Following up on the August 2022 paper from Salvatore Babones, Indian Democracy at 75: Who Are the Barbarians at the Gate?, we will publish an annual evaluation of the evaluations, pointing out their errors and pressing for corrections.
“India is the world’s biggest democratic success story. It is the only post-colonial well-institutional democracy,” sociologist A/Prof Salvatore Babones said at the India Today Conclave in Mumbai on Saturday.
A/Prof Salvatore Babones also talked about press freedom in India and said it is safer to be a journalist in India than in the rest of the world.