The Economist has a democracy index. The US dropped to "flawed democracy" after the coup attempt and has not recovered.[1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index
India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
41–50 of 110 posts
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Has there been an Indian government that will be viewed favorably through western lenses? - Pt. Nehru wanted Socialism and State Control. - Indira Gandhi brought the Emergency and all that came with that - PM Vajpayee conducted the nuclear test - PM Modi is viewed as an authoritarian and fascist I think these cover the most influential leaders over the last 75 years. Only PM Manmohan Singh stands up to such scrutiny.
What's a western lens? Borris Johnson looked good through a "western lens."
It is India's close ties to USSR/Russia.
That's the western lens.
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#43Modi has the highest approval rating, according to western pollsters, of any leader in the world. India’s elections are free and fair. That’s all democracy requires. Democracy doesn’t mean western democracy or liberal democracy. Shadi Hamid has done excellent work on this issue: https://www.brookings.edu/books/the-problem-of-democracy-ame... ; see also https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/18/the-problem-of...
>Modi has the highest approval rating, according to western pollsters, of any leader in the world. India’s elections are free and fair. That’s all democracy requires.
Source? According to these sources Bukele beats Modi ~90% to 75%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_on_the_Nayib_B...
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1456852/world-leader-app...
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Statecraft at its finest? Next, I'll hear that KPI manipulation sets the standard for good engineering...
The real question is why did anyone even think KPIs were effective in the first place.
Exactly, I'm sure Boeing and Intel both had KPIs coming out the walls but both have had major engineering issues recently.
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#45Middle class (Upper, middle, and lower) are crushed into shambles. The Rich and those who can gather means are leaving the country at an alarming rate. The fake leader is worried about his narrative and ratings.
Wait, what? When did this happen. This is not the India I live in. India is fluid, complex beast.
Your comment reads like propaganda.
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#46Modi has the highest approval rating, according to western pollsters, of any leader in the world. India’s elections are free and fair. That’s all democracy requires. Democracy doesn’t mean western democracy or liberal democracy. Shadi Hamid has done excellent work on this issue: https://www.brookings.edu/books/the-problem-of-democracy-ame... ; see also https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/18/the-problem-of...
> Democracy doesn’t mean western democracy or liberal democracy
It's something I disagreed with you about before, but have come to agree with you about Raynier.
Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Turkiye, and Israel have all begun falling out of the US orbit after we began pressing on the liberalism aspect.
We should fight for liberal democracy at home, but it is not something we should necessarily evangelize abroad, as elite and economic consolidation plays a greater role in building lasting ties with a country instead of ideological ties.
I had a convo with Mastro and Doshi about this during a seminar a couple months before the election, and it sounded like they also started agreeing with this view as well.
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#47Modi has the highest approval rating, according to western pollsters, of any leader in the world. India’s elections are free and fair. That’s all democracy requires. Democracy doesn’t mean western democracy or liberal democracy. Shadi Hamid has done excellent work on this issue: https://www.brookings.edu/books/the-problem-of-democracy-ame... ; see also https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/18/the-problem-of...
The definition of democracy as "free and fair elections" alone is subject to tyranny of the majority.
Ironically, tyranny of the majority is a very very good definition of democracy if you drill the majority down into subcategorical majorities recursively until you reach the individual who might be severely disconnected from the averages.
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's a western lens? Borris Johnson looked good through a "western lens."
It is India's close ties to USSR/Russia. That's the western lens.
India didn't have close ties, it successfully took advantage of its neutrality to benefit from both sides of the cold war.
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
The definition of democracy as "free and fair elections" alone is subject to tyranny of the majority.
Ironically, tyranny of the majority is a very very good definition of democracy if you drill the majority down into subcategorical majorities recursively until you reach the individual who might be severely disconnected from the averages.
And this is how Indian elections work.
The amount of data collection and analysis is insane. Election Consulting Companies like I-PAC and Showtime Consulting would gather extremely granular religious (sect level), ethnic (sub-clan level), age, linguistic (sub-dialect level), economic, and social metrics and poll on a near weekly basis, and work with the parties that hired them to iterate on electoral messaging and promises based on the selected demographic intersection.
These consulting firms also pay Microsoft and Google India level salaries so they are attracting the best of the best at top Indian universities.
Re: India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't help that the nature of "democracy" is itself endlessly contested. E.g. both supporters and critics of the way Romanian courts have treated Georgescu seem to claim they are "defending democracy". There are important advantages to a social contract which is simple and unambiguous.
> It doesn't help that the nature of "democracy" is itself endlessly contested. It's not really; I've never heard someone say that, in fact. The nature of propaganda is to make everything uncertain, and then everyone is frozen and nobody has done wrong.
Hopefully I'm not nitpicking, "propaganda" in general form can be to
any purpose; rallying/unity, sapping morale, creating a scapegoat...
A lovely word for what your describing is "discombobulation" - sowing
seeds of fear, uncertainty, doubt (FUD), gaslighting and disorienting.