There is another way

Strong, decisive rule is not the only way to effectiveness. Our experience since 1991 shows diffused economic and political power can deliver the goods even better

R Jagannathan’s thought-provoking article in these pages (‘Democracy, autocracy, or both?’, Business Standard, April 3, 2024) has raised some very important issues. He is surely right in saying that countries as a whole are difficult to compare, as no country is like another across all elements. But he then goes on to directly assert that autocracies are more effective at getting things done: “A country that wants quick, radical change will tend to be less democratic because big change needs more concentration of power.”

There is another way. As many have pointed out (see Martin Wolf’s piece last week