Challenges to Democracy Notes | Class 10 - Civics

Challenges to Democracy: Class 10 Civics Notes

This chapter looks at the difficulties that democracies face and at how they can be repaired and strengthened. These notes cover what a challenge means, the three broad challenges every democracy meets, the special problems of non-democratic countries, and the guidelines for sensible political reform. For more revision material like this, browse the One Young India study notes and the full Class 10 Political Science notes.

What is a challenge?

A challenge is not just any problem. A challenge is a difficulty that carries within it an opportunity for progress. When a country overcomes a challenge, it does not simply return to where it was. It moves to a higher level of achievement. The challenges facing a democracy are therefore also chances to make it better.

The problems that different countries face are not the same. Countries that are not yet democratic, countries that have just become democratic, and countries that have been democratic for a long time each face a different kind of challenge.

The three challenges to democracy

1. Foundational challenge

This is the challenge of making the transition to democracy and then setting up a democratic government in the first place. It involves bringing down the existing undemocratic or dictatorial rule, keeping the military out of government control, and establishing a sovereign and functioning state. Countries that have never had democracy, or that are ruled by an army or a monarch, face this foundational challenge.

2. Challenge of expansion

Most established democracies face the challenge of expansion. This means applying the basic idea of democratic government across every region, every social group, and every institution.

• Giving greater powers to local governments.
• Extending the federal principle to all the units of the federation.
• Making sure that women and minority groups are included.

Large democracies such as India and the United States face this challenge. Democracy has to reach the groups and areas that it has not yet reached fully.

3. Challenge of deepening democracy

Every democracy faces the challenge of deepening. This means strengthening the institutions and practices of democracy so that people trust them. It requires that the institutions of democracy work in an efficient and smooth way, so that ordinary people feel that democracy actually delivers for them. When trust in democracy grows, democracy becomes stronger and harder to weaken.

Challenges for non-democratic governments

Countries that do not have a democratic system of government face challenges of their own:

• They face the foundational problem of making the transition to democracy and then setting up a democratic government.
• They face the task of bringing down the existing non-democratic rule while also keeping the army from controlling how the country is run.

Such countries have to put in a great deal of effort in order to build a sovereign and functioning state.

Guidelines for political reforms

A challenge is also a chance for growth. A difficulty can only be overcome through reforms and changes to the existing system of governance. The type and depth of reform differs from country to country, because each country suffers from its own particular problems. For India, there is both a real need for reform and real room for it. The following guidelines help us judge whether a proposed reform is a good one:

1. Making laws is not the only way to bring about change. When people talk about political reform, they often mean passing new laws. Good laws do help to prevent unfair political practices, but laws alone cannot change corrupt habits and mindsets. Over reliance on the law is itself a weakness.
2. Legal change should not be counter-productive. Any reform must be designed with the wellbeing of the people at its centre. For example, a rule barring anyone with more than two children from contesting a panchayat election can backfire, because while it tries to control population, it also takes away many people's right to take part in democracy.
3. Reforms should strengthen democratic practice. Reforms should focus on the ways in which democratic governments stay transparent and involve citizens. Democracy rises higher when ordinary people are actively part of running it, so reforms should empower citizens rather than officials.
4. Identify the right questions: what, who and how? A good reform clearly identifies the most suitable solution, the most suitable authority to carry it out, and the most suitable way of carrying it out. Reforms should not simply hand over all control to political leaders.
5. People are at the heart of reform. Because reform works only when the public takes part, it is essential to encourage the involvement of ordinary citizens in improving the system.

Why it still matters

The three challenges in this chapter are not just textbook ideas. They are exactly what the world is wrestling with right now, which is why this topic connects so well to the wider world affairs you can explore on the Learnacy Hub.

Take the challenge of expansion first. The year 2024 was the biggest election year in history. More than seventy countries held national elections, and roughly half the world's people were eligible to vote. India ran the largest single election ever seen: about 969 million people were eligible to vote, which is over ten percent of everyone on the planet, across seven phases and about a million polling booths, with around fifteen million officials on duty. Reaching that many citizens, including first time and rural voters, is the challenge of expansion happening in real life.

Now take the challenge of deepening. Holding an election is not the same as having a healthy democracy. The V-Dem Institute, which measures the state of democracy across the world, reported in its Democracy Report 2025 that for the first time in about twenty years, autocracies (91 countries) now outnumber democracies (88 countries). It also found that roughly 72 percent of the world's people, around 5.8 billion, live under some form of autocratic rule, and that about 45 countries are sliding away from democracy while only 19 are moving towards it. Even some long established democracies are weakening. This is precisely the challenge of deepening: institutions, free speech and public trust have to be kept strong, or the democratic label starts to hollow out.

So the same ideas you are revising, foundational, expansion and deepening, are the real yardsticks that experts use to judge whether democracy is winning or losing ground today. If you want more standardised notes tied to current affairs, keep exploring the Class 10 Political Science notes.

Sources

1. V-Dem Institute, Democracy Report 2025: 25 Years of Autocratization. https://www.v-dem.net/documents/60/V-dem-dr__2025_lowres.pdf
2. Democracy Without Borders, Autocracies outnumber democracies for the first time in 20 years. https://www.democracywithoutborders.org/36317/autocracies-outnumber-democracies-for-the-first-time-in-20-years-v-dem/
3. Institute of Development Studies, India election 2024: the world's largest democracy votes. https://www.ids.ac.uk/news/india-election-2024-the-worlds-largest-democracy-votes/
4. World Economic Forum, Why 2024 is a record year for elections around the world. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/12/2024-elections-around-world/