ABSTRACT
Against all the odds, democracy is safe and sound in poor and multi-cultural India. Its citizens support democracy against authoritarian rule by a proportion of four to one. While its economy has been growing at higher annual rates than almost every other country for more than twenty-five years, India is by far the country with the largest proportions of citizens declaring trust in the government and satisfaction with the way democracy works.
Indian democracy has survived and thrived because during the last few decades new leaders have introduced major top-down institutional and policy changes oriented to acknowledge complexity and to disperse power, including territorial decentralization, economic liberalization, multiparty governments, and international opening. These changes fit well both the diversity of the country and the economic and social dynamics of globalization and technological change.
Given the initial low expectations, most citizens are very or fairly satisfied with the way democracy works in India and Indonesia. This is the opposite of what has recently happened in developed countries, where high expectations fed by previous good performances have been discontinued and provoked dissatisfaction, rage, and political backlash. Poor winners feel better than rich losers.
