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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes his seventh year in office, Indias perceived democratic backsliding has invariably formed the underlying context of political assessments of his tenure. The governments handling of Covid-19s second wave has added to anxieties related to the suppression of democratic norms.

These concerns were validated by a host of annual democracy rankings earlier this year, which downgraded Indias status to a flawed democracy or electoral autocracy. Irrespective of ones view on the conclusions, these reports have thrown up a set of larger questions over methods to assess democratic robustness, the internal and external variables that shape democratic health, and the roots of the crisis of liberal democracy.

Is Indias democratic backsliding an outlier or part of a historical pattern? In the early 1990s, political scientist Samuel Huntington described the pattern of global democratisation as a series of three waves and reverse waves. The first long wave lasted for almost a century until the end of World War I; the second short wave was in the aftermath of World War II; and the third medium wave began in the late 1970s, lasting till the dawn of the new century.

Since then, the world has been under the grip of a democratic recession. The rising concern among scholars and commentators on how democracies die to borrow the title of a book on this trend is neither surprising nor unwarranted.

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At the outset, the sharp disagreement over democracy ratings, as witnessed in India, is inevitable, since democracy itself, in academic literature, is an essentially contested concept. There are endless debates among scholars on how best to measure democracy. In fact, dissatisfaction among academics with Freedom House and Polity scores led to the establishment of V-Dem that employs more comprehensive indicators and statistically robust techniques. Much like any complex social phenomenon, a snapshot picture of democracy (in terms of headline numbers) will have inherent limitations of subjectivity.

As each of these reports privileges some components of the definition of democracy and relies heavily on expert-based judgments, they capture certain parts of reality and filter some parts out.

This lack of a singular framework of measurement of democracy does not, however, mean that we must not take them seriously. Notwithstanding political rhetoric, these institutes follow a very methodologically rigorous protocol on how to define democracy, best practices to measure the concept, and aggregation of various components into single indices. Further, all these reports share a very high degree of correlation and their datasets (along with methodological details) are publicly available. Their data is regularly employed in the statistical analysis of economic, political, and social policy.

At the heart of criticism are the ideological biases of the experts. We cant be sure about the ideological preferences of these experts as the institutes refrain from sharing the identity of individual country experts, for understandable reasons. Even as these reports document rising populism, they are subject to the same populism-driven distrust of experts. These institutes must therefore assuage these rising concerns by greater transparency.

But we must recognise that there is a certain consensus democracy in every region of the world is under attack by populist leaders and their supporters who are exploiting nationalistic appeals to concentrate power. As a result, dissenting voices (including all sorts of minorities) are facing the heat of this anti-pluralist backlash.

The big decline in Indias ratings hinges on a decline in civil liberties and deterioration in political tolerance. And not surprisingly, the actions and inactions of the Modi government have been highlighted as the driving factor in Indias democratic backsliding.

While India must focus on the home front to regain its political legitimacy, global trends cannot be discounted in this decade of democratic recession. For example, in the previous two reversal waves, shocks to geopolitical order (such as wars), new States with weak institutions (which could not keep up with increasing pressures on the system), and neighbourhood effects were important drivers.

We must also not discount the shifting geopolitical order with the rise of China and increasing economic inequalities across the globe in understanding democratic recession. States in the developing world are unable to keep up with governance demands in face of an economic slowdown. And, most countries are facing renewed challenges with new types of non-State actors (including Big Tech) trying to influence domestic politics.

In many parts, where the rate of backsliding has been steep, especially in consolidated democracies such as India, there is also a simultaneous collapse of the ancien regimes under the weight of their inefficiencies. The liberal model of democracy is struggling as its promise of fostering equality and giving a voice to all citizens in politics has remained, to a great extent, unfulfilled. As BR Ambedkar warned, political democracy can only be sustained with the foundation of social and economic democracy.

The global surge of nationalist-populist leaders did not happen in a vacuum. Nor can their continued popularity be easily wished away. Many of these leaders have cemented a solid support base, and the political opposition in many of these countries still remains largely discredited. While these leaders remake politics in their country that is more amenable to their ideological worldview, the line between disagreements and dissent will continue to remain thin. This means that the expansive notions of democracy that were envisioned during the rapid march of global democratisation of the 1980s and 90s will continue to remain under stress in the near future.

This is not to say that the supporters of democracy must learn to live with truncated notions for the foreseeable future. It is to suggest that they must participate in a more clear-eyed appraisal of the backsliding and chart out the path of recovery. Democracy is strengthened through dialogue on divergent issues. On the home front, this would require both resolve to engage with the current churning, and more inclusive intention to re-envision the idea of India.

Rahul Verma is a fellow, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi

The views expressed are personal

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Assessing the quality of Indian democracy - Hindustan Times

With changes to voting and campaign finance rules, Maryland sets the pace for nation

BALTIMORE Several voting and campaign finance reform bills that the Maryland General Assembly passed this session became law in Maryland after Gov. Larry Hogan chose not to sign them. The new laws increase access to early voting, improve on the state's vote-by-mail system, and reduce the role of large and corporate donors in races for governor. While none of the bills got Gov. Hogans endorsement, many of the bills earned bipartisan support in the state legislature.

We are disappointed that Gov. Hogan did not sign these common sense reforms, especially the update to the Fair Elections Act, which he used to win office, Said Maryland PIRG Director Emily Scarr, With these new laws Maryland has firmly positioned itself as a leader on democracy reforms."

The events of 2020 made a clear case for why American democracy desperately needs reform. Butwhile an important federal election reform bill called the For The People Act has stalled in the U.S. Senate, a handful of states, notably Maryland, are pushing forward with building a better democracy.

The Maryland bills passed recently include:

States have often been described as laboratories of democracy and, in recent years, Maryland has been one of the most productive laboratories. In fact, many of the reforms in the stalled federal For the People Act are already in use in Maryland. Over the last decade, Maryland has passed automatic voter registration, has expanded access to mail-in balloting and, after the state legislature passed enabling legislation in 2013,five Maryland cities and counties established successful public campaign financing programs to empower small donors.

Groups including Maryland PIRG, Common Cause Maryland, the League of Women Voters of Maryland, the Maryland State Conference of the NAACP, Disability Rights Maryland, and the Maryland ACLU have worked with legislators and activists to advocate for these reforms.

So, while partisan gridlock stymies reform just across the state line in Washington, DC, Maryland is showing that there is a path forward for building a democracy that works for everyone.

Our democracy works best when we all participate and everyones voice is heard, in Maryland, the 49 other states and DC, said Scarr. Instituting these electoral reforms is a powerful way to ensure we have a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

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Maryland democracy reforms go into effect without signature from Gov. Hogan - State PIRGs

Voters stand in line before casting their ballots under Sheikhs 42C heat. (Photo: Greg Mills)

The authors were members of the international election monitoring team convened by the Brenthurst Foundation, and were based in the Sahel region in eastern Somaliland.

A dirty white, bullet-pocked house, without electricity and running water, does not merit a second glance in the town of Burao high in the east of Somaliland. Yet this former colonial governors residence shaded by a giant acacia was the site of the Grand Conference of the Northern Peoples in Burao, held over six weeks, concluding with the declaration of Somalilands independence from Somalia on 18 May 1991.

Since then, the Somalilanders have stuck with a winning formula, despite the absence of international recognition and the tepid democratic enthusiasm of much of the Horn of Africa.

Only Somaliland is not ranked as unfree (with a score of 42/100) on Freedom Houses political rights and civil liberty rankings. Ethiopia (22), Djibouti (24) and Somalia (7) all rank as unfree, the same as Uganda (34), Rwanda (21), Burundi (14), Egypt (18), Sudan (17), South Sudan (2), and Eritrea (2) in the next regional ring. Only Kenya (48) to the south enjoys partly free status.

Somaliland uses democracy to keep its people together. Its steady democratic performance and progress is a breath of fresh air in a continent where right now its an uphill struggle for democrats.

Only seven countries of 49 in sub-Saharan Africa are now in the free category. This is the lowest figure since 1991, with less than 10% of the population of the continent now living in countries classified by Freedom House as free.

The reasons are simple. Incumbents have little interest in changing things, even though a vast majority of Africans regularly polled prefer democracy to other forms of government, despite the popularity among elites of the Big Man thesis.

Somaliland also shows that you dont have to be rich to be democratic. Despite a tiny national budget of just $250-million for its 3.5 million people, tough geography and a hostile climate, Somaliland is to the contrary showing the way for much richer African countries how to do it.

A place that has made something out of virtually nothing is how former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo describes the progress made by Somaliland. His trip there in May 2019 was the first by an African president since the territory re-declared its independence in May 1991.

In June 1960, Somaliland gained its initial independence from Britain before making an ill-fated decision to join former Italian Somaliland five days later in a union that was envisaged ultimately to include French Somalia (now Djibouti), the Somali-dominated Ogaden region of Ethiopia (now Region 5) and a chunk of northern Kenya.

In the centre of the capital, Hargeisa, is the independence memorial, comprising a MIG-17 fighter-bomber erected on a plinth. This commemorates the event when, having lost control of the province, Siad Barre ordered his air force, operating from the local airport, to bomb the city which had been briefly captured by local Somali National Movement (SNM) liberation fighters in May 1988. Flown by Zimbabwean mercenaries, among others, this resulted in many thousands of civilian casualties.

By the time of Siad Barres fall three years later, the main cities of Hargeisa and Burao had been razed to the ground. Not for nothing was Hargeisa known as the roofless city after systemic looting by Mogadishu had stripped it of roof sheeting and even doors and their frames.

Somalilanders have since sought stability on the principle of maximum ownership and the reality of minimum resources.

Peace did not require vast external financing. There was none available anyway at the time. In fact, the absence of outsiders may be precisely the reason for its success, at least compared with its southern neighbour, Somalia, which has lurched violently from peace conference to initiative, peacekeeping mission to external military intervention, and failing government to fragile coalition seemingly with little discernible progress. In Somalia, conflict entrepreneurs have fed off both the fighting and the talking in a top-down process financed by donors mostly taking place outside the country.

Somalilands peace conferences were by contrast managed and financed by locals, bringing their own food and shelter. The last conference in 1993 was held over five months under the trees in the western city of Boroma.

Such dialogue, long a feature of Somaliland society, was organic, bottom-up rather than top-down. Somalilanders concentrated on achieving peace, not on acquiring comforts and financial rents for delegates from a peace process. Despite its obvious dysfunctionality, Somalia somehow refuses to countenance Somalilands right to a divorce, clinging chauvinistically to the notion that the marriage can be repaired. And Africa blindly stumbles on with hopes for reunion and fears of the impact of accepting the current two-state reality.

The recovery since has similarly demanded persistence and the principle of inclusion.

The former British protectorate has developed a stable, democratic system of politics, merging modern and traditional elements. In 2002, Somaliland made the transition from a clan-based system to multiparty democracy after a 2001 referendum, formalising the Guurti as an Upper House of Elders, which secures the support of traditional clan-based power structures. There have since been regular elections and a frequent turnover of power between the main political parties. The 2003 presidential election was won by Dahir Riyale Kahin by just 80 votes in nearly half a million from Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo.

The tables were turned in 2010, with Silanyo winning 49% of the vote to his opponents 33%. Muse Bihi Abdi, a former SNM fighter, who had earlier served as a Soviet-trained fighter pilot in the Somali Air Force, was elected in November 2017, receiving 55% of the vote, becoming the countrys fifth president, and cementing a tradition of peaceful handovers of power rare to the region.

On 31 May 2021, around the 30th anniversary of Somalilands independence and the 20th anniversary of its multiparty democracy, despite Covid-19, the parliamentary and local district elections went off smoothly, with 1.1 million voters registered by the National Electoral Commission (NEC), and the establishment of 2,709 polling stations countrywide.

Unlike Somalilands previous six elections, which were mostly funded by outsiders, 70% of the $8-million budget was financed internally. And despite delays in the election, caused by a standoff between the presidency and opposition parties over the nomination of members of the NEC, and challenges with the iris biometric voter registration system, these were the most competitive yet, with 246 candidates for 82 parliamentary seats and 966 for 249 district municipality posts across the six regions.

Critics say that Somalilands democracy has been facilitated by the dominance of a single clan, the Isaaq, unlike Somalia, which has to balance the competing interests and ambitions of four major clans and several smaller ones. But this argument understates the differences between the Isaaqs sub-clans and sub-sub clans, ignores the internal violence that accompanied the birth process, which had to be resolved, and overlooks the tremendous hard work that went into it.

The focus on the relative integrity of the clan system, president Abdi contends, also underestimates the impact of the democratic culture of the SNM. For 10 years, he says from his offices in Hargeisa, the SNM was struggling for democracy, refusing the dictatorship of Siad Barre. The democracy we now have was also based on the constitution of the SNM, which was very democratic, in which there were regular elections every two years, and in which the central committee operated like a parliament.

He cites the example of former president Silanyo who was removed in the 1989 SNM elections and yet accepted the change. We have a tradition of accepting results and changing power, and accepting leadership even outside of the SNM, which is very unusual, he points out, among African liberation movements.

Donors have helped in sponsoring the local civil society group that provides election oversight: in 2021, the European Union was the principal contributor to the $2-million budget of the Somaliland Non-State Actors Forum (Sonsaf), which deployed nearly 900 monitors countrywide and ran an Election Situation Room in Hargeisa staffed by 16 operators collecting and collating countrywide incident reports between April and July 2021.

This is how donors can spend money well and wisely in supporting local governance initiatives and the cause of peace and stability.

Of course, as with any democracy, there are challenges of consolidation. Delays to the election process have resulted in officials serving well beyond their original mandates, while journalists face problems of access and pressure from authorities. There are instances of minor clans being subject to political and economic marginalisation, and violence against women remains a serious problem in a highly patriarchal society.

We observed the 31 May election in Sahel region, including Burao, the former colonial capital of Sheikh and the villages of Ina Dhakool and Qoyta, the latter the site of a casualty clearing station during the civil war. For all of its diplomatic isolation, Somaliland is strongly globalised. The link with the diaspora is in the names of Buraos suburbs, including Xaafada London, Abu Dhabi and Jarmalka (Germany).

Yet Somaliland is synonymous with grinding poverty and dirt-scrabble hardship. A high percentage, too, of the population is illiterate, requiring assistance at the polls, many of which were run by university students. The slow pace of voting is accompanied by constant grumbling on a high Somali volume setting. Regardless, the enthusiasm was palpable, not least among the very old and young. Preference is patiently given to disabled and woman voters. A voting age of 15 might seem low, and a cynical way of vote-stealing, but it serves as a deradicalising mechanism for the largest demographic: 70% of Somalilands 3.5 million population is under the age of 30. The younger generation sees democracy as a means of diluting the impact of the clan system.

Democracy demands and creates a high-trust and transparent environment. Assisted voters, about one-fifth of those in our area of observation in 46 polling stations, would be asked their preference to be filled in by the presiding officer, and showed immediately to the agents representing the three parties in the station. These practices help to ensure votes are respected. The crowds were not voting just for political parties; they voted for nationhood and the pride for self-determination.

Somalilands commitments to improving democratic norms and standards and its regular change of leaders at the polls have made it a regional democratic superpower. Its progress should shame those much richer African countries where incumbents are rolling back democratic progress, since this threatens their power and financial privilege.

Those African leaders government and oppositions alike committed to democracy should recognise Somalilands undoubted progress from war to peace. The opposite also holds true. DM

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Somaliland: The power of democracy - Daily Maverick

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A global IT giant has announced plans to partner with the University of Calgary to create a centre of excellence for quantum computing in the city.

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A global IT giant has announced plans to partner with the University of Calgary to create a centre of excellence for quantum computing in the city.

Bangalore-based Mphasis Ltd., a provider of IT outsourcing services, announced Wednesday that it will set up a Canadian headquarters in Calgary. The move is expected to create 500 to 1,000 local jobs within the next two to three years, according to company CEO Nitin Rakesh.

The company will also establish what it dubs the Quantum City Centre of Excellence at the University of Calgary to serve as a hub for companies focused on the commercial development of quantum technologies. Mphasis will be the anchor tenant and will work to draw in other companies working in the field.

Quantum computing uses the principles of quantum physics to solve problems. It is considered to be a huge leap forward from traditional computer technology, and has futuristic applications in the fields of medicine, energy, fintech, logistics and more.

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In a virtual news conference Wednesday, Premier Jason Kenney called quantum computing one of the most promising emerging high-tech sectors. He said the partnership between Mphasis and the University of Calgary will help make Alberta a destination of choice for investment capital and talent in this growing field.

The goal is to make Alberta a force to be reckoned with in quantum computing, machine learning and AI economically, but also intellectually, Kenney said. Post-secondary students will have incredible opportunities to master the most sought-after skills through this venture.

Mphasis also announced its plans to establish Sparkle Calgary, which will offer training in artificial intelligence and automation technology for Albertans seeking a career transition. Rakesh said through this platform, Mphasis hopes to help address the skills shortage that currently plagues Albertas tech sector, while at the same time helping out-of-work Albertans find a place in the new economy.

Theres a ton of data expertise that sits at the heart of the oil and gas industry, Rakesh said. So can we take that ability to apply data knowledge, data science, and really re-skill (those workers) toward cloud computing . . . Thats the vision we want to see.

The University of Calgary has been working for some time to help establish Alberta as a leader for quantum computing research through its Institute for Quantum Science and Technology a multidisciplinary group of researchers from the areas of computer science, mathematics, chemistry and physics. The U of C is also a member of Quantum Alberta, which aims to accelerate Quantum Science research, development and commercialization in the province.

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U of C president Ed McCauley said Wednesday he hopes that the partnership with Mphasis will lead to the birth of a new wave of startup companies in Calgary, ones that will use cutting-edge technology developed on campus.

This (quantum) technology will not only create its own industry, but it will fuel advances in others, McCauley said. Calgary will not only be an energy capital, it will be a quantum capital, too.

The federal government has identified quantum computing as critically important to the future economy. The most recent federal budget includes $360 million for a National Quantum Strategy encompassing funding for research, students and skills development.

Mphasis is the second major Indian IT company in recent months to announce it will set up shop in Calgary. In March, Infosys a New York Stock Exchange-listed global consulting and IT services firm with more than 249,000 employees worldwide said it will bring 500 jobs to the city over the next three years as part of the next phase of its Canadian expansion.

Like Mphasis, Infosys has formed partnerships with Calgarys post-secondary institutions to invest jointly in training programs that will help to develop a local technology talent pool.

astephenson@postmedia.com

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Global IT giant to partner with U of C on quantum computing centre - Calgary Herald

JLICH and WRZBURG, Germany, June 1, 2021 Forschungszentrum Jlich and the University of Wrzburg will together investigate the quantum phenomena of topological materials and the opportunities they present within quantum computing. The Free State of Bavaria is funding the project to the tune of 13 million.

Numerous research groups worldwide are working on the development of quantum computers. Such computers will offer numerous advantages when they are ready for application. They require very little energy and provide extremely fast computing power as well as a high level of data security.

However, a number of technical challenges still need to be overcome. To achieve further progress in this regard, Forschungszentrum Jlich and the University of Wrzburg (JMU) are strengthening their long-standing cooperation in this field.

The project partners are turning to topological insulators as a material class. Together, they aim to research and develop topological material systems that would serve as suitable components for quantum computers.

Jlich and JMU: A strong partnership

Wolfgang Marquardt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jlich, and then JMU President Alfred Forchel signed a cooperation agreement to that effect in March 2021.

The cooperation with Jlich provides JMU with a great opportunity, Forchel explains. We already have outstanding resources in Wrzburg in the fields of solid-state physics, semiconductor physics, and topological materials. In Forschungszentrum Jlich, we have a strong partner whose expertise complements our own very nicely. Together, we can lead the way in topological quantum computing.

Wolfgang Marquardt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jlich, adds: The development of highly complex technologies such as those required for quantum computing can only be successfully achieved through sharing expertise and through the cooperation of strong partners. This cooperation is an important foundation to bring together the complementary expertise of JMU and Forschungszentrum Jlich as part of a joint effort to explore the possibilities of topological materials for robust quantum computers and thus to create a hub for new, solid-state quantum innovations.

Funding from Bavaria

The Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy is providing roughly 13 million in funding to the project to investigate quantum computing on the basis of topological materials through experimental and theoretical approaches. Bavarias minister president Markus Sder had announced this investment at the end of 2019 as part of the states Hightech Agenda Bayern initiative.

Four research groups involved

Funding is to be provided to four research groups. This funding will be used to establish four young investigators groups at both research locations.

From JMU, the teams of professors Laurens Molenkamp (experimental physics) and Bjrn Trauzettel (theoretical physics) are taking part in the cooperation. Both teams aim to host young researchers from Jlich who will set up their own young investigators groups in Wrzburg. The idea behind this is as follows: The young people will act as a kind of human bridge bringing expertise from Jlich to Wrzburg and vice versa, explains Trauzettel.

At Jlich, the subsinstitutes of the Peter Grnberg Institute (PGI) specializing in the fields of solid-state physics and theoretical physics are participating, led by professors Detlev Grtzmacher (PGI-9), Stefan Tautz (PGI-3), Stefan Blgel (PGI-1), and David DiVincenzo (PGI-2). Through the continuation of the Virtual Institute for Topological Insulators, which is funded by the Helmholtz Association, synergies in research into topological insulators will now be used in closer scientific collaboration to establish a pathway towards quantum computing, says Grtzmacher to explain the high hopes being placed in this project.

Long-standing cooperation in an excellent environment

Various collaborations in the fields of physics and information technology materials have been in place between Forschungszentrum Jlich and JMU for over ten years now. In 2012, the Virtual Institute for Topological Insulators (VITI) was jointly founded by the two partners. In light of the promising developments in topological quantum computing, both parties have decided to strengthen this cooperation in the form of joint working groups.

The research collaboration operates in an outstanding environment with two clusters of excellence related to the field: Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter (CT.QMAT) (Wrzburg-Dresden) and Matter and Light for Quantum Computing (ML4Q) (CologneAachenBonnJlich).

A Helmholtz Quantum Center is also being built at Jlich. At JMU, a new building is under construction for the Institute for Topological Insulators (ITI). The first research teams are scheduled to move into the new building as of mid-2021.

Source: Forschungszentrum Jlich

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Jlich, University of Wrzburg Investigating Innovations for Quantum Computing with Topological Insulators - HPCwire