Are democracy and development compatible?

To most global theorist of democracy, India is an embarrassing anomaly. They believed that democracy in India should not have survived as it is marred with massive poverty, largely rural and uneducated population, weak civic institutions, wealth inequality and social divisions like caste, regionalism and communalism. Yet India has proved to be a remarkably resilient democratic polity.

Then comes the question about the compatibility of democracy with development. Do democracy and democratic institutions facilitate economic development?

The empirical answer to the question is not in always affirmative. Some argue, for example, that the experiences of Korea, Taiwan, or Indonesia show that a strong authoritarian state is better able to engineer a successful process of economic development than an electoral democracy such as India.

However, it is established fact that it is democracy that ensures economic development of ‘right