Democracy in South Asia: A comparative Analysis of democracy in Pakistan and India

Abstract

The current study intends to find out the quality of democracy in Pakistan and India. Both the countries freed from British rule at the same time and have similar culture and background. The study is based on eight quality indicators to see the quality of democracy in both countries developed by Leonardo in 2001. Apart from a heavy literature review the study used in-depth interviews to analyze the quality of democracy. For doing so professors of Political Science and History professors were interviewed from public sector colleges of Lahore. 20 professors were selected for this purpose. Both pro-determined and emergent themes were used to analyze the data of the study. The study concluded that democracy is in good shape in India as compared to Pakistan. Civil- military relationship proved to be a determining factor for the establishment of democracy in Pakistan. On the other hand corruption, bureaucracy, accountability, electoral system and other indicators were found to be in firm standings in India compared to Pakistan.