Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi a democrat? The answer ought to be obvious as the 73-year-old crisscrosses the vast geography of India, canvassing for votes in his quest for a third term in office. But his critics in India and abroad insist that Modi is eroding India's democracy. Indeed, he is eating away at something - a democracy that was captured by vested interests. And he is turning it into a democracy that responds to the aspirations of its people.

The late American institutional economist Mancur Olson, sadly missing from the list of Nobel Laureates, wrote three influential books, The Logic of Collective Action, The Rise and Decline of Nations and Power and Prosperity, which went beyond the inconclusive democracy-vs-authoritarianism debate in examining the economic success or failure of societies and nations. His fundamental insight was this: that small groups tend to organise and act on common interests much better than large groups (in which people lacked the incentives or motivation). The latter may represent the welfare of the society at large, but it is the former who have the power.

The insight is agnostic towards the nature of the political system. It may be presumed that in an authoritarian system, a government or leader is able to overrun vested interests more easily. On the other hand, the........

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