India combines high governmental capacity with genuinely democratic contested elections

Evidence

Contemporary India remains fascinating because at the regional (that is, “state”) and national levels its politics qualify as more or less democratic, with relatively broad, equal, and protected consultation for its vast numbers of citizens. Indian electoral campaigns proceed with colors, symbols, tableaux, and rituals more reminiscent of Paris in 1789 than of any Western country in 2005 (Brass 2003; Hansen 1999; Kakar 1996; Varshney 2002). But they proceed as genuinely contested campaigns. The national and state governments also exercise substantial control over people, activities, and resources within their territories. In that sense, India also qualifies as a fairly high-capacity regime. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 405

Categorization

• XREF: Directly places India in the top-right cell of Tilly’s capacity/democracy matrix — relevant to the reader’s central project of locating regimes on the matrix. — connects to: Democratic high-capacity regimes exhibit distinctive patterned contention. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 378; High-capacity flawed democracies absorb electoral change without major violence — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 527; Democratic leaders accept constitutional limits and autonomous state organs — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 108 (+1 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 405

Broader Connections

• High-capacity flawed democracies absorb electoral change without major violence #expands (0.86) — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 527
• Democratic high-capacity regimes exhibit distinctive patterned contention. #expands (0.82) — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 378
• Democratic institutions channel contention into electoral forms while autocracies push it underground #expands (0.80)
• Democratic leaders accept constitutional limits and autonomous state organs #qualifies (0.75) — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 108