Democracy has expanded dramatically the world over throughout the twentieth century. It has brought within its ambit all regions of the world irrespective of their innate differences Democracy may be reaching out to new areas and broadening in its space but the democratic enterprise is not necessarily deepening. Rather than becoming inclusive, the enterprise of democracy is becoming somewhat exclusive: a few social segments are cornering benefits of democracy while large multitudes remain outside its range even though they are stakeholders in this venture. It is in this context of a general commitment to the norms of democracy, but of worries about their practical realization, that the idea of democracy assessment should be located. The project, State of Democracy in South Asia, engages in a thorough ‘assessment’ of democracy in the five South Asian countries.

Qualitative Assessment (QA) is one component of the larger project, which involves scholars from the five South Asian countries, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The project visualizes five different levels at which the democratic experience can be evaluated. These levels are labeled as Promise, Design, Working, Outcomes and Futures. We developed a set of specific questions, which were taken into consideration by the assessment team. These questions are modeled on the framework of IDEA Democracy Assessment Besides, the exercise of Qualitative Assessment was strengthened by inputs from Cross-section Survey, Case studies and Dialogues For more detailed information about the concept and tools of assessment exercise click here