This assignment is a take-home essay assignment consisting of 1 question with 2 parts (totaling 4-6 pages). The goal is to test knowledge and assimilation of the course objectives and assigned readings, and how well you apply course content to specific examples. You should prioritize use of assigned readings to show your engagement with class sources, but you may refer to reputable and academically appropriate outside sources as necessary.
Indicators of Democracy Rises and Declines:
India and Ecuador Case Studies
Democracy and autocracy never come in one-size-fits-all, pristine forms. They reside on opposite ends of a spectrum and individual states can move in either direction. In 2021, India was downgraded from a “free democracy” to an “electoral autocracy,” which many political scientists and policy makers saw as a troubling sign for the status of democracy. Meanwhile, Ecuador was said to have reversed a trend toward autocracy and its Freedom House rating moved from “partly free” to “free” in 2022. In both cases, we have to consider whether these trends held. The objective of this assignment is to identify and analyze the indicators of their respective movements along the spectrum.
Your discussion of these phenomena will have two parts:
Part 1: First identify some of the indicators of movements on that scale between democracy and autocracy. Draw these from your Week 4-6 readings, as well as the Freedom House, Fragile States Index, and V-Dem reports linked below if needed. What are the strongest indicators? Why did you pick the indicators? What do they illuminate about the status of democracy or autocracy?
Part 2: Apply your set of indicators to the case of India and Ecuador and their developments from 2021-present. Which indicators demonstrate India’s movement towards becoming a less free “electoral autocracy?” Did India stay on this direction since 2021? Which indicators showed Ecuador’s movement away from autocracy? Do you consider this trend significant or short term?
Part 3, the verdict: In short: now that it’s 2023, did the trends started in 2021 hold steady? How have these states slid on the every-moving scale between autocracy and democracy?
You’ll find brief mention of India and Ecuador in assigned readings (especially Hellmeier 2021), but may also wish cite outside sources if they are from reputable democracy research institutes or peer-reviewed journals.
Additional sources you may wish to consult (you can check other years not listed here):
Freedom House report on India 2021: https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2021.
Freedom House report on India 2023: https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2023.
V-Dem Democracy Report 2022: https://v-dem.net/media/publications/dr_2022.pdf.
Freedom House report on Ecuador 2022: https://freedomhouse.org/country/ecuador/freedom-world/2022.
Freedom House report on Ecuador 2023: https://freedomhouse.org/country/ecuador/freedom-world/2023
Fragile States Index: https://fragilestatesindex.org/
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