Acceptance for autocracy is growing in India
For many people living in democracies, authoritarian rule has its temptations, reveals a Pew study
When I was about eight years old, my twin brother and I – and many other geeks of our generation – played a sprawling, addictive computer game called Civilisation. The point of the game was to build your “civilisation” up from the Stone Age to the Space Age, marshalling resources, building cities, establishing trade networks, developing new technologies, and, of course, conquering your enemies with brute force.
Periodically, the game would offer you the option of switching forms of government. Why not try feudalism or monarchy or, later on, constitutional monarchy or republicanism, capitalism or communism? My brother and I tended to stick to more bludgeoning political systems. There was no fun in democracy and, moreover, it seemed far too obvious a choice.
I grew up in in the late 1980s and 1990s, a time shaded by the end of the Cold War and the sense that there was something inevitable about the expansion of ‘liberal democracy.’ If that computer game taught me anything, it was that political systems are contingent and impermanent. The recent history of the 21st century has shown us that the world hasn’t been flattened by globalisation, that it remains deeply wrinkled, and that there is no guarantee that liberal democracy will win the future.
This week saw the gathering of the National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The convention takes place twice a decade and is the defining pageant of the Chinese state, a demonstration of its size, discipline, and direction. International media tend to treat the congress as an inscrutable, choreographed event, more theatre than politics. But it is the main arena for that essential process of a state – the transition to new leadership.
Democratic countries (where less than half of all human beings live) are refreshed and renewed by free elections. The Chinese life but also in our everyday life, we keep on omitting the voice of our heart. Some of us could not achieve the goals which we had dreamt of.
Others could not get married to that person whom they loved so much while some of us don’t help the person who desperately needs our help. We know very well that our heart insists on listening to it. But we keep ignoring the voice.
Don’t let your mind do your heart’s work. They are different things, with different opinions. Don’t let yourself get stuck system of state capitalism, supervised by an entrenched political elite, poses an alternate model. As does the authoritarian cult of personality in Russia and the technocratic mercantilism of Singapore. For many people living in democracies, authoritarian rule has its temptations. A new Pew study launched this week shows that commitment to democracy around the world is inconsistent.
The study, which investigated political attitudes in 38 ostensibly democratic countries, was particularly disturbing in its findings about India. Over half of Indians (55%) favour autocracy to democracy. 53% of Indians say that “military rule would be a good thing.” Though the sample size of the study was fairly small, other polls have produced similar results. A study of Indian university students last year also found that 53% were in favour of a period of military rule.
India scores high on the “Democracy Index” (a scorecard run by the Economist), in the same tier as the United States, Italy, France, and Japan. But unique among these strongly democratic countries, Indians are most sceptical of their current political system. The Pew study claims that 76% of Indians are either “less committed” or “not committed” to representative democracy.
At the same time, over 80% of Indians “trust the national government to do what is right for the country.” Together with the previous finding, that figure suggests an odd mix of fealty to the state and fatigue with the democratic process, the ingredients for an authoritarian outcome. A large proportion of Indians (27%) “very strongly” support having a “strong leader” who can bypass democratic checks and balances.
India isn’t on the verge of becoming a dictatorship. But these numbers should cause concern for a country that has uniquely among l arge post-colonial countries avoided military rule and (with the exception of the Emergency) maintained the institutions of representative democracy.
India’s young populace cannot be blamed for their beliefs. They are entitled to feel exasperated with their elected representatives and failures in governance. But political systems are not immutable. A slide towards greater autocracy is not impossible. Sadly, these numbers suggest the inklings of the one force that really makes authoritarian rule possible: public consent.
INDIA ISN’T ON THE VERGE OF BECOMING A DICTATORSHIP. BUT THERE IS ENOUGH CAUSE FOR CONCERN FOR A COUNTRY
THAT HAS, AMONG LARGE POSTCOLONIAL COUNTRIES, AVOIDED MILITARY RULE
between both.
Don’t ever hesitate in listening to what your heart is attempting to tell you. Identify what your heart is trying to say.
We know all the pitfalls of not doing what our inner voice tells us to do. But still we keep on neglecting it.l
Listen to yourself, have faith in your decisions. That is the path to real happiness.