Democracy needs to be deepened for people to have a real voice to influence decisions that shape their lives, says the Human Development Report, 2002.
While formal institutions of democracy had become a universal norm, it was important to develop and sustain the core values of inclusiveness, participation and accountability, before institutions could be seen as truly democratic, the report, released today, said.
Arrangements for accountability may not function well if democratic institutions were subverted by corruption, captured by the elite or when they had inadequate reach, the report pointed out.
Also, when money played a decisive role in politics, it turned unequal economic power into unequal political adfcvantage and undermined the principle of