THE INDIAN EXCEPTIONALISM: WHY DID INDIA BECOME A DEMOCRACY? A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE AND SOME OBSERVATIONS TO THE DEBATE

After 70 years, Indian democracy is almost universally regarded as an established and resilient political phenomenon. Yet, how democracy became established in India remains almost an enigma: classical theories of democratisation have always had difficulty explaining the Indian case. For this reason, the latter has often been considered an ‘exceptional case’ or a case of ‘deviant’ democratisation. This article provides a review of the main academic positions within the debate on the emergence of democracy in India. The literature review has highlighted strengths as well as weaknesses. In particular, two elements of weakness need further research and investigation. The first concerns political leadership as an explanatory factor of democracy in India. While the explanations that emphasise the influential role of political leadership in the emergence of India's democratic regime seem to be the most convincing (conversely, those based on structural and social factors are less so), how this influence actually takes place (and how it has taken place in India) remains unclear. The second weakness concerns the scant attention paid in the literature to international factors to explain the emergence of Indian democracy.